This album marks the end of a “Four Seasons”-project. The first release in the project was the track “Fanfare of Spring”, featured on the compilation “Tying Up Loose Ends #1 – Culport”. This was followed by the summer album “En Sommerdag I Kroken (Ruter)”. The endless loop tape “Decomposing Transitions” described autumn, containing a two-minute loop, with no beginning nor end. Just like “En Sommerdag I Kroken”, this is an album with a narrative. The narrative here is presented both in the titles, and the enclosed text (program notes). Thus, making this a piece of program music.
34 small textures created with prepared drums, a collage of sounds generated through the vibrations and resonances of objects on the surfaces of the drum. (Pel means skin in Piedmontese dialect)
The second tape in the series will be released by Tone Burst on the 28th of November 2022. The cassette will feature a two-minute loop by T. Jervell called “Decomposing transition”
The digital counterpart consists of a twenty-minute snapshot of autumn. Repeating and reflecting the cassette loop, adding parts, removing parts, deconstructing parts. Listening to the decay, as it happens.
The loop tapes have been duplicated by letting each successive tape be a copy of the former, thus being a representation of autumns slow decay. The idea being that audio (in theory) might degrade a small amount, for each duplication. This degradation is furthermore enhanced by the fact that every time the listener hears the loop, the physical tape will get worn, and eventually completely degrade.
The tea provided with the cassette is a Pu-erh tea harvested in 2000. It has been fermented and stored for 20 years in Jinggu, China. It has a distinct earthy taste, with Jujube and liquorice tones.
Soft crackling, a snap, pop, a sudden roar, ever changing, recognizable yet never the same.
Flames who seem to have a life of its own, dancing to the sound of their passionate burning self.
Every piece is a place to be in, rising and descending, whispers, whistling heat.
Dance around the fire, or just stare at the flames. Take part in the ritual of the “Fire Ring”.
Instead of being beaten by a broken computer, I took that challenge to be creative and do it “the old way”. All music is recorded in one take, full analog, and mixed on to tape, minor editing and mastering are done partly analog and digital. The instruments I used for this recording: Ciat-lonbarde DIY instruments, Wurlitzer piano, Arp Axxe synthesizer, Guitar, and tape echo/loops.
Programmable tremolo, repeating blocks of fretting or plucking overtones. Overlaid potato prints in different colours; all similar shapes but differing in tiny details.
In a dark room, ET sat at a keyboard, forgoing all drum machines, pre-planned structure and bar lines. Exploring the inner and outer cosmos in a sleep-deprived stream of consciousness, synthesising a guided astral journey into another world.
Roll tapes, unfurl the mind and set off into the unknown.
Omniversal Multiplexing Reality is neither universal or multiversal, but somewhere in between, but our spirits must grasp a single strand of existence and tend to it or risk annihilation from information overload. Here, the limitless opportunity is manifested as a percussion piece, one reality chosen from a million possible threads all occurring simultaneously.
Hyperenvironment “u” The human body and the rainbow body are configured entirely differently, the head of the rainbow body corresponds with the human hands and stomach, and the human head corresponds with the propelling hairs of the rainbow body. When the process of transferring consciousness occurs in another being, the body appears to open like a flower.
Sea of Vapours To the rainbow body empty space is a medium with texture and resistance, like sentient smoke. To travel through this medium the rainbow body both grips the lines of the omniverse with its eyes and propels itself on long glowing hairs.
Sky Burial From a human perspective, the deceased body is consumed and the remains are spread geographically by scavenging animals. However, from the astral perspective the rainbow body is given the ultimate gift of being opened wide like a net, to better locate the omniversal field lines and to catch the cubic centimetre of opportunity.
Antimatter Milky Way The milky way appears distant to the human body but within the omniverse it unites all, feeling more like a warm river of spirit flowing through everything with a clear texture and direction.
Infinite Mirror Maze To fall into a mirror and reflect light in tiny beams into the outer portions of the omniverse. To remain lost in the mirror forever, to never return home.
Hyperbeings Hyperbeings are entirely unconnected to physical form, existing in the gaps of the omniverse. They have thoughts and intentions of their own but are only ever occasionally able to exert any influence on what we think of as our ‘concrete’ reality. When they do appear they are enormous and diffuse and it is easy to miss them, appearing more as gaps between clouds or as unusual wind patterns or strange temperature fluctuations.
Neutron Gong Dead stars ring like giant bells.
Hyperenvironment “I” Having travelled for some time, the rainbow body begins to unfurl and the fibres begin to fall apart. While alive, the human and rainbow forms must nourish each other, so our journey is soon to end for now. It is only after human death that the rainbow form can achieve permanence, if properly strengthened through training, maintained and nourished during life.
Flying Amanita Before returning home to the human form, one final joyful flight across the glowing sky. In flight the rainbow body appears to be approximately mushroom-shaped, with the propelling hairs pulled together into a stem.
Dedicated to everyone caught in the act of becoming.
Recorded live in my home studio in February 2022. Performed on a Monome Norns Shield controlled by a Shbobo (Ciat-Lonbarde) Shnth. Amplified through a custom built 4 channel PA using a selection of resonant objects attached to speakers and audio transducers.
Thank you to fellow Tone Burst artist, Colin Drake, for making this album possible by creating the Norns/Shnth library and writing the script “Grainzer.”
Thank you, Cara O’Brien, for never letting me give up or present anything but by best work.
Very special thanks to Phil and Barry at Tone Burst for all their hard work, support and positivity.
barry joseph cullen 