The Music Of Sound, released as a downloadable collection through collaborative international sound art collective Furthernoise, aims to highlight the abundance of “musical’ sounds created through “non-musical’ means. Whilst featuring a disparate selection of works and approaches from artists across the globe, The Music Of Sound nevertheless has a strong ethnological, ecological and cultural basis tying everything together throughout its eleven tracks. Largely based on natural and artificial field recordings, The Music Of Sound presents these sounds in both unprocessed and processed states – with references to drone, Musique Concrete and microtones throughout.
Expat Australian Rob Curgenven’ “Silent Landscapes No. 4 (Extract)’ is an outstanding example of his minimalist approach to field recordings, with the juxtaposition of naturally occurring drones in outback Queensland and unprocessed East German chatter succinctly summing his work to date. Listening Shell by Lea Piotek is equally captivating, with subsonic bass and disquieting high frequencies balanced with beautiful arrangements, subtle melodies and a sense of irreverence. Thanos Chrysakis’ Enclosure is another highlight, accurately conveying the suffocating feelings of entrapment and isolation with an unnerving digital recreation.
As a companion piece to the compilation, a series of artist statements describing the works are available on the furthernoise website. These statements provide a welcome insight into the psyche and creative explorations of each artist, providing a welcome context to the sounds heard and the processes behind them. The Music Of Sound regardless succeeds as an aural document regardless of these statements (which is naturally of great importance), as the listener is provided with an added perspective in which to appreciate this absorbing collection of the reimagined everyday.
Andrew Tuttle
