Transparent Archipelago by Andy Graydon & Luke Martin
About the Composition
To begin, we picked five field recordings from our sound archives; three from Andy and two from Luke. These recordings became our 'material in common' for composing the piece.
Next, working independently we each made our own ‘islands,’ areas of sound and silence set in a frame of duration. To create an island, each of us selected five excerpts from the original sound sources. We then gave each sound a ‘vertical cut’ in the form of a narrow band pass filter, limiting it to a specific frequency range; then applied a 'horizontal cut' to each sound in the form of a time edit, choosing a section from the original field recording. This resulted in floating slices of sound laid out topographically within a total duration to form the features of each island.
Finally, we superimposed each of our individual islands over one another, like transparencies or photographic slides, allowing their interaction to create new patterns and alternations between sound and silence; opacity and transparency; land, sea and sky.
After finishing the piece, we came across a poem by Fernando Pessoa (The Fortunate Isles, 1934) that seems to articulate something we were doing musically. In each listening there is the hope that a novel 'island' will arise, somehow still linked to the indeterminacy symbolized by the sea, to the indeterminacy of our everyday lives, our archives, and the choices made along the way toward this composition: a 'fortunate island,' a 'land with no place' - something we may only stumble upon in a state of half-sleep, half-knowing, eyes and ears half-closed.
Credits
Composed and mixed by Luke Martin and Andy Graydon
Additional recordings by Fern Silva
Mastered by Luke Damrosch
Cover Images by Andy Graydon
Thanks to Florian Dombois, Helene Romakin, and Fabian Gutscher for the winds
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Andy Graydon and Luke Martin are both artists based in the US. Andy Graydon is primarily involved in the study of ecosystems and also works as a filmmaker. Luke Martin is a performer and composer who focuses on music with a focus on silence.
In this work, the space is mainly formed by silence, fine sounds, and occasionally very strong bass. They used field recordings as "material for composition" and likened the area of sound and silence to an 'island'. Through editing, the individuality of each 'island' came to the fore, and by mixing the sounds of both artists who had worked independently, the result was a work that was both extremely delicate and strong.
Andy GraydonとLuke Martinはともにアメリカで活動する作家。Andy Graydonは生態系についての研究を中心とした活動をおこなっており、映像作家としても活動している。Luke Martinは無音に着目した音楽における演奏家/作家として活動している。本作は主に無音と微音、そして時折非常に強い低音によって空間が形づくられている。彼らはフィールド録音を「作曲の素材」として利用し、音と静寂の領域を「島」に見立てた。編集によってそれぞれの「島」の個性が表面化し、独自に作業してきた2人の音が混ぜ合わされることによって、結果として非常に繊細かつ強靭な作品へと仕上がった。
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Andy Graydon
Andy Graydon is an artist and filmmaker originally from Maui, Hawai’i. Recent projects have focused on island ecologies, and the listening practices and narrative forms employed by the natural sciences. His work has been presented internationally including shows at the New Museum; Mass MoCA; Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; Frye Art Museum, Seattle; and the Honolulu Biennial. Graydon has collaborated widely as a sound artist and composer, including work with Jennifer Walshe, Jan St. Werner, Ernst Karel, Michael Pisaro, Richard Garet, Delia Gonzalez, Stephen Vitiello, France Jobin, Cecilia Lopez, John Hudak, Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder.
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Luke Martin
Luke Martin is an experimental musician and writer living in Minneapolis (U.S.). He plays guitar, sine generator, and no-input mixing board, often with friends in and around the Wandelweiser Group, and is part of the ensemble Ordinary Affects. Luke's work focuses on silence and the relation between music and truth.
www.lukecmartin.com
Transparent Archipelago is the first duo record by Luke Martin and Andy Graydon, following years of collaboration in performances and screenings in both Boston and Minneapolis.
