Full of Nothing

fon37 – ‘Day’s Arc #2: Edward Sol/Husnaan/Tidal/Sparkling Wide Pressure $9.5(World)
The second installment in the label’s “Day’s Arc” series gathers 4 sonic artists from Ukraine, Indonesia, the UK and the USA. These carefully chosen minds provide 15-minute long pieces to accompany different times of day. Edward Sol, Husnaan, Tidaland Sparkling Wide Pressure ensure this cassette makes your day! Edward Sol kick-starts “Morning” with a beautiful composition entitled “Svitanok” (“sunrise” in Ukrainian). This outstanding musician is known far and wide not only for his label Quasi Pop but also for the precise audio collages that balance on the borders of Industrial, Electronica and Field recording. Assembled in a village near Kiev, Ed’s piece evokes the feelings of stillness, purity and solitude. The rich sound palette aspires with sine waves hung still in the air, only to be broken down with bubbly gut punches and eerie whispers of electronic bird-imitations, found sound, field recordings and a sampled traditional song. “Afternoon” is represented by Husnaan, the Bandung-based Indonesian artist Duto Hardono. With the arsenal of a banjo and analog synthesizers Husnaan stresses the hectic aspect of the day time. Busy repetitive patterns slowly swirl around like giant mechanisms, a young man snaking in-between, just merely avoiding being trapped. Entwined with the sense of subtle menace, “The Day Is Getting Shorter” is an fine exercise in futuristic anti-utopian post-industrial Elevator music. “Dimming Sun” is the symbol of the B1 section of the tape, “Evening”. London’s Jimmy Billingham is on the quest of pushing further the soundworlds sculptured by previous generations of New Age musicians. Never humdrum, always on the spot,Tidal is a rare coastal drone supervisor who is able to comfort the audience at once with the sweet melancholia. Lush keys fade out into eternity as the evening darkens, they stand for last rays of perfect days. A memory to keep. The water of the tidal waves of the previous composition flows into “Night”, or actually, underneath the night – as the track title suggests. Frank Baugh’s Sparkling Wide Pressure guise has caught many attentive ears in the past few years with excellent releases on all notable tape labels. Murfreesboro, Tennessee resident seems to produce stormy clouds of messy beauty with such an easy hand, it’s hard to believe every single one is a treasure. “The Water That Flows Underneath the Night” is no exception, it’s a firm burst of Drone, white-light noisy Blues, gallant chanting and endless guitar feedback. A truly dark and mysterious night offering. White cassettes with silver-foiled black J-cards designed by Anya Kuts. Each comes with a download code. Edition of 100.

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