loess
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"This is very patient music. Calm, as you might expect, and expansive - our ears expand to listen along with and through the musician, as he attempts to adopt the timescale of the creatures that inhabit this environment. The player's attention is steady and his stamina impressive, in what may be some of the slowest music you've heard" - Clive Bell (BAMBOO Magazine, October 2023)
The music on this album is a selection of improvisations on shakuhachi and live electronics on the banks of River Lea in east London.
For years I have been visiting this particular section of River Lea — to sit still, to observe, to listen, to try and meld with the more-than-human that make up this place. Improvising on the shakuhachi and a small, portable live electronics setup, I explore my place by the river and how I can blend in, creating long moments of birdsong, trains, wind, shakuhachi and technology.
The word “loess” (LOW-ess) refers to a type of sediment that is the result of wind depositing small amounts of dust on the same location over geological time. Visiting and recording in the same location over several years, this work has been about deepening my awareness of the place — my music every time I return is changed, each visit another layer deposited.
With many thanks to all the stewards of the soil, insects, birds, and trees of River Lea, and all those who keep fighting against the rife and unregulated raw sewage discharges and industrial pollution, which threaten the stability and peace of this place and those who live around it.
1. sakura sakura (2021)
This is an improvisation on the Japanese folk tune “Sakura sakura” which translates to “cherry blossom.” Recorded early on a misty and cold morning in April, when nature was at the cusp of blooming.
2. reveil #1 (2021)
On International Dawn Chorus Day in May 2021, I set up a livestreaming listening station on the banks of River Lea, broadcasting the dawn soundscape as part of Soundcamp Reveil 8, a 25-hour project organised by Soundtent. This improvisation was recorded just after dawn, at around 5.30am.
3. reveil #2 (2022)
Following the same process, I revisited the same spot for Soundcamp Reveil 9 on International Dawn Chorus Day in May 2022.
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