LAWRENCE ENGLISH - Kiri No Oto LP
Lawrence English is a media artist, composer and curator based in Brisbane, Australia. Working across a broad range of aesthetic investigations, English's work is eclectic and characterizes a long-term exploration into various themes including audio/visual environments, found sound/vision, subtle transformation of public space and sonic artworks that exist at the very edge of perception. The Japanese phrase "kiri no oto" loosely translates as the "sound of fog" or the "sound of mist." In many ways, it's a collection that meditates on the sense of displacement and distortion that occurs in environments which undergo extreme mists, snowstorms and sea sprays. In the same way that visual objects lose their perspective, form and shape in these environments, the sound components that make up Kiri No Oto are not quite as they first might appear. Utilizing a range of divergent mixing techniques, analog filtering and "harmonic" distortion, Kiri No Oto offers an expansive sound space in which the listener must choose to position themselves. Focus, like that in a fog, is in a constant state of flux, as elements are brought into and out of perspective. The first in a series of records employing this technique, Kiri No Oto explores the richness in the frequencies that are usually associated with extremes of volume and through this process, the recordings position the ear itself as another layer of auditory fog as it begins to distort and alter the sounds it comes in contact with. The sounds sources for Kiri No Oto emanate from both instruments and found sound, with recordings on this edition made in Poland, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.
