Airplane noise interrupted my early outdoor sound recording attempts in the forests around Frankfurt. And so, after a while, I figured I would kick the pastoral, turn the concept upside down, and specifically record the airplane noise instead.
“Aiear” was planned as a field recording project since 1996. In 2023 I resumed the project and composed the piece as a preamble to the “Clould” cycle (to be released as Crónica 220~2024). “Aiear” and the five movements of “Clould” together consist of 95 minutes of electroacoustic music, five microstories, the libretto for its fifth movement, a number of aerial photographs and text charts, and a performance concept including the first three movements. The title ”Clould“ convolutes the words “cloud”, hinting at humankind’s fascination of supposed supernatural cloud beings, and “could”, a potentiality. Historical mythologies about supernatural beings that supposedly lived in clouds or created them are placed in the context of 21st-century airborne mass transport. Such air travel propels large groups of human beings — passive by force — through a space that once belonged to mythological beings and energies. And to the clouds, of course. The title “Aiear” is a convolution of the words “air” and “ear”.
While I composed “Clould” with sounds from inside airports and airplanes in flight, including disembodied voice announcements, “Aiear” is based on the sounds of airplanes just taken off or descending in order to touch down, recorded from the ground. In those phases the jet turbines produce various glissandi, unnerving when looking for quietness, but interesting when carved from the full recorded sound spectrum and used as elements for the composition — dismechanized engine noises, complementary to disembodied voices.
Acknowledgements: the Crónica staff, DeDe Handon, Marco Hofmann, Dr. Achim Sibeth, Eva Weingärtner. Love to the two young roe deer and the black Mudi who came by during the morning recording session at Tempelsee in January 2023.
The improvisations are a hedgerow teeming with life. Cranc's take on Burn's transcriptions are fantastic revealing all kinds of angles on Bailey's musical mind - well worth comparison with Philip Thomas's takes (have to hear Pat Thomas's versions now!). stchase
The Doom Trip label never misses, and the latest LP from the genius Heejin Jang is a trip into thrilling industrial terror. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 30, 2023
Purportedly the recordings of a disgraced experimental psychologist (you decide), “Jumand” sets spoken word to eerie synths. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 2, 2023
what should have been originally released. the lo-fi nature works wonderfully in the record's favor... feels very natural. bailey plays off of the backing quite nicely! james
