Parallel Atlantae by janis lago

NYS#197

I recorded the majority of this album having stepped away from almost all of my hardware (at least the electronics; I still worked with my chromatic harmonica in particular) unintentionally for some time because the difficulties of college made working with my computer more accessible and appealing when I was often strapped for time with the approach and then onset of midterms. While I hesitate to call any such things hardship for I am quite fortunate to study something I enjoy at a university I wanted to go to on a scholarship I worked hard for, I still have emotions alongside that, often rather chaotic. This record does not necessarily reflect those emotions: it reflects a return to something that makes me feel better through immediate, tangible expression, but of course, none of my music truly possesses a therapeutic quality given that my artistry is just a thing I do and live through in the course of my existence, like many other things. Therefore, I will describe this album on terms of sound first and foremost. It is uneven in rhythm and rides on the coattails of extended loops of live synthesis constantly flowing against one another, obeying an internal system of fluid dynamics unbeknownst until expressed. Each song has been performed entirely live from the outputs of a Roland SP-404A with sounds sourced from an Elektron Digitone, a chromatic harmonica, the artist's voice, and an assortment of incidental sounds including hand claps, with later mastering using multiband compression, stereo balancing, equalization, volume leveling, limiting, and so on, but for all intents and purposes, this is a record of transparency (not authenticity - authenticity does not exist), of things happening simultaneously, accentuated by hand-played percussion arranged in a real-time rubato, an arrangement comparable to folk theatrical performance, mayhaps even the variable rhythms of epic now impossible to reconstruct on account of their great antiquity. The beat of the kick marks not a consistent pulse to be obeyed by its surroundings (which would turn it into a directorial and soon enough dictatorial figure in such an environment were it to occur accordingly); rather, it is a narrative signal carrying one motif of the storyteller's to the next, explicating the cast-about undertaking despite its nature as a score to something which does not exist. At the same time, this makes each piece profoundly personal: only these sounds, triggered in a patternless pattern which cannot be exactly replicated due to its complexity, could exist pressing onward from the moments in time at which they came into being, a bit of coaxing amounting to little more than vague similarities in key and tempo linking everything together a la hydrogen bonds, ready to be divided at a moment's notice. The music speaks for itself, or really vocalizes: what is its purpose if it cannot express itself by making little noises in sequence? This is Parallel Atlantae in its final form, its elements taken from prior tidbits and projects which could not accommodate them and united by a newfound sense of bespoke purpose-madeness. By design it is incoherent, by design it must be perceived carefully, but its existence needs no justification as long as it is present in this world - or somewhere outside it.

Svalbard Seed Vault field recordings label. Dabbling in large-scale interactive hydrophone installations and sixth wave post-Pigfuck on the side + trilateral diplomatic summit archive tapes.

Art collective est. March 1st 2017

Founded by:
Octa Möbius Sheffner
Valyri Sheffner Harris
Spencer Booth

Previous:
&TIME
earlyprey
(etc.)

Current:
7FORM

Hatemail
snow@ecarlate.company

Positive☆Dance Time label
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