Browse by Artist: ENGLISH, LAWRENCE

Artist:	ENGLISH, LAWRENCE
Title:	Kiri No Oto
Label:	DIGITALIS
Format:	LP
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	DIGI 031LP

There's no doubt that Australia-based media artist, composer and curator Lawrence English has been responsible for some of the best drone compositions in the past decade, but with Kiri No Oto he unleashed his magnum opus. It's a stunning album on every level. English blends an array of natural and unnatural sources into a living document that is constantly captivating and engages the listener on many levels. This is a work set apart from much of English's discography, but still blanketed by his exquisite attention to detail that keeps everything in its right place. Originally released as a CD on the Touch label (TONE 031CD) in 2008, Kiri No Oto finds a new lease on life etched into wax. Album opener "Organs Lost At Sea" leaves nothing to chance. From the first saturated chords, you are enveloped in Kiri's aural landscape. Towering drones get weighted down with fuzz, overpowering the fog that's present throughout the record. It's like hearing the hum of the Earth released from its cage for the first time. Flowing seamlessly into the quieter but no less imposing "Soft Fuse," there's never a chance to catch your breath. English is content to overrun your ears. "Waves Sheer Light" catches you by the wings and lifts you high into the clouds. This is what floating sounds like. It's an enchanted and dizzying experience. This is music that is timeless in the literal sense. You get lost within these sonic walls, unsure if you've been swimming there for hours or only a few minutes. This is especially true on the underwater gauziness of "Figure's Lone Static." It feels endless. "White Spray" plies similar ground with bits and pieces of electric harmonics peaking through the static every so often, acting as beacons to find your way. One is content to get lost here. As the album comes to a close on the cathartic "Oamura," Lawrence English's job is done. He has taken you on a dynamic journey and kept you riding on eternal highs. When the melodic tones finally get overtaken by the sound of ocean waves, it is simply time to flip it over and start the experience again. Vinyl cut at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin. Limited to 500 copies only for the world.

Artist:	ENGLISH, LAWRENCE
Title:	Lonely Women's Club
Label:	IMPORTANT RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	IMPREC 367LP

"Beautiful new work from Lawrence English. Pressed in an edition of 500 copies. Lawrence English is composer, media artist and curator based in Australia. Working across an eclectic array of aesthetic investigations, English's work prompts questions of field, perception and memory. English utilizes a variety of approaches including live performance and installation to create works that ponder subtle transformations of space and ask audiences to become aware of that which exists at the edge of perception."

Artist:	ENGLISH, LAWRENCE
Title:	For/Not for John Cage
Label:	LINE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	LINE 058CD

"I wanted to find a work that offered an openness (particularly in a sonic sense), something that might invite a new perspective of exploration into Cage's ideas and interests. It was during this search that I found myself drawn to one of Cage's less celebrated works - his film for solo light performer 'One11.' Joining with video artist Scott Morrison we 'restaged' the film, developing a new score for single light source devised from a range of Cage-ian approaches. The resulting piece was called 'One11 (Refocused).' Part way through the process of composing music for 'One11 (Refocused),' it became clear that a body of sound work was forming (beyond the music created for the 'One11 (Refocused)' soundtrack) that drew heavily on some of Cage's passions - specifically his interests in Zen Buddhism (and the space for contemplation this philosophy opens) and also that of chance operations. Each of the pieces presented in this edition bare John Cage's influence - some direct, others less so. The title of the edition reflects the sources from which the music was created - specifically from the 'One11 (Refocused)' project (For John Cage) and other pieces, created entirely by chance during one recording session (Not For John Cage)." - Lawrence English

Artist:	ENGLISH, LAWRENCE
Title:	Ghost Towns
Label:	ROOM40 (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	EDRM 403CD

"Recorded in the later half of 2003, this composition that falls just shy of 20 minutes is composed largely of field recordings, the only processing being via eq and pitch shifting. The work is an abstracted impressionist sound portrait, sketching out the isolated soundscapes that exist, for the most part unheard, in these forgotten realms. It highlights the rich and at times unexpectedly synthetic sound world existing in these spaces. Cicadas are matched against 44 gallon drums popping in the morning sun and wire fences resonating to the backdrop of sites such as the haunted imperial hotel in Ravenswood, far northern Australia."

Artist:	ENGLISH, LAWRENCE
Title:	Kiri No Oto
Label:	TOUCH (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	TONE 031CD

Lawrence English is a media artist, composer and curator based in Brisbane, Australia. Working across a broad range of aesthetic investigations, English's work is eclectic and characterizes a long-term exploration into various themes including audio/visual environments, found sound/vision, subtle transformation of public space and sonic artworks that exist at the very edge of perception. The Japanese phrase "kiri no oto" loosely translates as the "sound of fog" or the "sound of mist." In many ways, it's a collection that meditates on the sense of displacement and distortion that occurs in environments which undergo extreme mists, snowstorms and sea sprays. In the same way that visual objects lose their perspective, form and shape in these environments, the sound components that make up Kiri No Oto are not quite as they first might appear. Utilizing a range of divergent mixing techniques, analog filtering and "harmonic" distortion, Kiri No Oto offers an expansive sound space in which the listener must choose to position themselves. Focus, like that in a fog, is in a constant state of flux, as elements are brought into and out of perspective. The first in a series of records employing this technique, Kiri No Oto explores the richness in the frequencies that are usually associated with extremes of volume and through this process, the recordings position the ear itself as another layer of auditory fog as it begins to distort and alter the sounds it comes in contact with. The sounds sources for Kiri No Oto emanate from both instruments and found sound, with recordings on this edition made in Poland, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

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