SAMUEL REINHARD – MOVEMENT
In July this year, I recommended listening to Samuel Reinhard‘s For Piano And Shō, praising its slowed-down atmosphere created by the two acoustic instruments. His new album, Movement, reveals Reinhard’s return ‘with a suite of electroacoustic collages’. Despite this, the four 20-minute movements feature only acoustic instruments: piano (Reinhard), bass flute (John Also Bennett), baritone sax (Michal Biel), cello (Leila Bordreuil), pedal harp (Shelley Burgon), and double bass (Vincent Yuen Ruiz).
The term ‘electroacoustic’ might be open to interpretation, as the music sounds organic and acoustic but has been treated and layered to create a quiet state of immersion, reminiscent of Brian Eno’s early ambient recordings.
“In his ongoing investigation of musical duration, perception, and attention, Reinhard deemphasizes progress through an embrace of repetition and negative space, inviting listeners to linger in time […] This breadth of instrumentation, arriving as individual notes stretched and overlapped, is treated not as an opportunity for
immersive coalescence, but rather a gentle augmentation of texture, free-floating counterpoint. […] We hear resonance in the process of being sustained, as well as in the release that follows.”
Movement is available in a 2LP version as well as a digital download. It is a joint release from Hallow Ground and Präsens Editionen.
LONGSWARM – HEMISPHERES
Longswarm is a duo consisting of Liz Helman and Darren McClure. They never met while creating this album: Hemispheres is the result of exchanging their ideas between London (Helman) and Matsumoto, Japan (McClure).
The tracks are “mined from their individual ‘sound pools’ and repurposing each other’s materials“, resulting in (six) deeply immersive soundscapes combining drones, field recordings. ‘and other secret sounds’.
Helman’s basic materials for her drone compositions are usually field recordings she collects while walking the streets. McClure is well-known for his “widescreen drones and minimal, abstract ambience”. The two artists match perfectly, exploring their common ground but at the same time expanding it into restrained yet adventurous soundscapes. Another great example of how one plus one can equal more than two.
Hemispheres is available digitally and on CD.