These works occupy a position between an expanded notion of composition and a gallery-based art practice. The content of the works presented on this disc produce a slow series of gestures that give the illusion of stillness amidst a texture of continually developing material. The central concern in all of these pieces (the three fully scored works, the installation documentation, and the live-performance) is the construction of a sound world that is able to be environmental rather than temporal, proceeding slowly enough that it might be explored without the anxiety that it will move away too quickly. Like much of my output, I am interested in providing the listener with material that allows for an active agency of perception and that affords the ability to move through the sound autonomously. Whether the work is gallery-based, conceptual, or created for a concert hall, I am interested in viewing simple, everyday actions at extreme magnification, acknowledging failure by amplifying impossible tasks, and exploring the role of memory in forms that respect the contract between the composer, performer, and listener.
1. objects in stillness
for bassoon, viola, guitar, percussion, and four sine tones (2006). 07:26
2. a radiance scored with shadow
for amplified paper, bowed vibraphone, bass drum, and compressed air (2007). 08:19
3. a murmur which redoubles
for three guitars, electric bass, and four sine tones (2006). 07:18
4. doleros (audio tourism at ringing rocks)
reclaimed building materials, steel, baler twine, speaker cones, light, and 12.1-channel audio (2008). 19:35
5. untitled (objects of memory)
cassette dictaphones, circuit-modified portable cassette player, controlled feedback, and computer-generated and vocally-produced sine tones (2009). 26:03
credits
released April 1, 2011
1-3: recorded by Alex Kass at Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. 1: Clogs: Bryce Dessner, Rachael Elliot, Thomas Kozumplik, and Padma Newsome. 2: So Percussion: Douglas Perkins, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Lawson White. 3: Catch Guitar Quartet: Wiek Hijmans, Seth Josel, Patricio Wang, and Mark Haanstra. 4: audio documentation of installation at Diapason Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. 5: live performance at NYC Sound Festival, Centre d’Arts Plastiques Contemporains/Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France.
Photo: Seth Cluett
special thanks to the Ringing Rocks State Park, The Movement Research Festival at Judson Church, Jennifer Eberhardt, Yvan Etienne, Paul Lansky, Chris Peck, Michael Schumacher, Micah Silver, Scott Smallwood, and Barbara White
Richard Chartier's LINE publishes editions documenting compositional & installation works by international sound artists & composers exploring the aesthetics of minimalism.
supported by 18 fans who also own “Objects of Memory”
Our bodies are thrown into the void, in a dimension between dimensions where the laws of physics don't apply.
Space and time bend, unfold, stretch and collapse endlessly ; taking advantage of this situation, we catch hints of broken transmissions and shattered fragments of time, erratically drifting in this hallucinatory area.
Even if the artist's collaboration still shines the most in their previous Aurora Liminalis, Divertissement offers an enjoyable falsely still life out of this world. Dotflac
St Celfer returns with tracks culled from a series of live shows, each one a showcase for his inventive experimentalism. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 26, 2023
supported by 18 fans who also own “Objects of Memory”
Great drone-work by a master of the form. Snippets of mysterious short wave radio broadcasts evolves into huge, otherworldly symphonies related to Ligetis Lux Aeterna, but warmer and more humane. Absolutely absorbing!
polinos
supported by 17 fans who also own “Objects of Memory”
Who would have imagined Federico Durand as an appearance here (Third Dream)? The collaboration is enchanting.
Federico has a way with abstract but deceptively simple, nearly melodic single note patterns. That combined with Stephan’s multilayered drones…it just works at every level. Richard Erickson