Summerhouses is a take on the electro-acoustic environments composition, specifically here the Antarctic. Craig Vear collected field recordings during 2003-4 when he held a Arts Council England Fellowship with the British Antarctic Survey, which has been the subject of his 2006 composition ‘Play:Antarctica’ . The use of computer based compositions evoking stark landscapes through stripped down tonal work, static interference, and drone like housing for the field recordings.
First track, ‘Cravasse blue’ gives you an idea of the field recording content, not as full of dramatic sound potential as ‘intertidal pool’, ‘repulsion’ or ‘after the sinking’. Indeed ‘Cravasses’ holds wind sounds and amplifies subtle noises with accompanying computer rendered noise aflutter with a resonant sound of place. ‘Repulsion’ is heavier on the electronic fuzz covering the whole spectrum to begin honing specific frequencies and aiming wavering bass tones underneath as a hint to be latter joined by a sharp high insistent almost bell like shape of sound with slight variances. ‘Intertidal pool’ holds for excellent variation in the field recording, melting ice, wind, the play of water on surfaces and the hint of indistinct backgrounds heightened by it’s own assortment of electronic ephemera, cluttered together as if they were somehow indistinct. ‘After the sinking’, the longest of the six tracks, 10.08, abandons the general mold of the album, rendering landscapes with field recordings for a more emotive and verging on epic electronic tonal display, honing numerous layers of drones and interweaving the insistence of each hinting towards a more traditional composition technique. It aims for the majestic and hits the mark fairly well, ending the album on a grand scale that leaves the ear satisfied after the discrete joys of the subtle experimentation of the preceding tracks. It is an album that would reward listening through headphones, some of it’s best moments are easily lost in the environmental incidentals of the world, even though it pertains, in a degree, to just that.
Innnerversitysound
