Imagine a time when not only acoustic and electric sounds, but also analogue and digital information were at war. A time in which a fundamental contradiction existed between the ontological status of divergent sonic disturbances. A time when the conventions, grammar and languages, not to mention the technologies of exposition of supposedly complimentary acoustical-aesthetic objects are so out of whack with one another that the very fabric of sound, the certainty of our expectations, seems to be unravelling, coming apart at the seams, before our very ears? That time is now. But that time has always been, only today we recognise the problem exists.
This recording by Melbourne trio Western Grey (Philip Samartzis, Sean Baxter and David Brown), explores the liminal zone where our sonic expectations are problematised from the very start. Composed of pure acoustic fragments and improvisatory approaches which are strikingly juxtaposed with pure electronic abstraction and digital manipulation, questions of genre and musicianship, spontaneity and deliberation, the origins and intents of the noises we are hearing, are held in sharp contrast. Yet, though the divergent aural and performative qualities are obvious, there is, at the same time, a complimentarity of noise, an empathy of texture at odds with the alterity of each body of information. The four pieces comprising Glacial Erratic are exemplary of the inevitable fusion of electroacoustic composition and free improvisation, of pre and post-meditation in sound design and the embrace of chance, aleatory and chaos in performance. This CD must be listened to at high volume for best results, so that the minute intensity of this sonic collision shreds your aural senses. -Sean Baxter
