asher l ubeboet cell memory

Asher and Ubeboet regale us with Cell Memory, which they arrived at by swapping
sound files between their respective homes in Somerville USA and Madrid in Spain.
The very title is pretty evocative; perhaps drawing attention to something as
microscopic as a human or animal cell, and then suggesting that this tiny organism is
somehow equipped with its own memory system. If this biological fantasy were
plausible, presumably the hauntingly chilling sounds we hear would be evidence of
this thoughtful and memorious activity. In two parts, labelled ‘alter (the other)’
and ‘nullus (neither)’, hearing this record is just like experiencing slow snowdrifts
and wind moving in slow motion across an empty desert plain. It does have a
certain entrancing beauty, even if I find the solemn tone rather wearisome. We’re
being invited to meet an ancient guru who will impart great wisdom from his
sun-cracked lips, but he refuses to smile at us when we arrive.

reviewed by Ed Pinsent issue 17 in the sound projector
9/14/2008