andy graydon at bay

Solo CDR, another on Winds Measure, from the most loquacious member of the ea collective. Graydon has recorded six intensive, layered tracks of processed field recordings mixed with electronic music, and (somewhat surprisingly) a ukulele, an instrument more associated with music hall entertainers than with austere avant-garde minimalism. No matter. Those seeking an ice-cold glacial universe around which they can wander, snow-blinded, for many long months, and advised to stick opening track 'ZPE' in repeat play, and then pump a barrel of liquid nitrogen into their house. Wrap up well with furs first, of course. 'ZPE' is virtually an uncanny piece of philosophical profundity, slow-moving and relentless as a glacier, while it carefully follows a pre-planned path of compositional precision. Although you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for a common 'dark ambient' soundscape, 'ZPE' is nothing of the sort. Ambient musicians often ended up being seduced by their own processes and droning cavernous wails, wallowing in them like an amateur painter who can't get over the amazement of experiencing acrylic paint when they first open a tube of Prussian Blue. Graydon, by contrast, is in complete control of his sources and materials, mastering their every change with the stern countenance of a hooded executioner.

Remainder of CD is equally strong. 'Solid of Smoke' begins life as a series of orphaned electronic tones which resolve into a sumptuous chord, content to drone in that position for five dreamy minutes, then move on into a skeletal diagram. Said diagram, if you could but see it, might reveal uncanny mathematical solutions to difficult metaphysical problems. 'Surroundings (the ship, the shoal, the shore)' is his most narrative title here and it applies to a piece of landscape painting that is mostly white skys, suggested horizon lines and glimpses of marine activity through a haze of morning fog. This one would be perfect to listen to after Lionel Marchetti's hymn to the Arctic (see elsewhere in this issue). Graydon however has a more optimistic view than that bleak portrait of isolated humanity. And if none of the above is minimal enough for you, you need only to turn to the starkness of the final track 'Verite Entieres'; you'll have to work hard to discern the slowed-down sisses of steam kettles, the ultrasonic bat whistling, and the microscopic fragments of radio speech that drift by on this hermetic, unfathomable track. This particular piece of emptied-out beauty is dedicated to Vera Arno on her birthday; presumably Graydon was so moved by the occasion that this was the most appropriate statement he could make, and anything else would be perceived as an unnecessary stain on the perfection of silence. Much more than just another record of droney, vacuous, minimalism, At Bay succeeds through the strength of it's austere ideas, and the discipline of the composer in carrying them out.

Ed Pinset 05/08/2007
the sound projector 16th issue 2008