SONIC VIGIL 4 | Various Artists
GrD 13 | 4 Audio CDs | Box Set (Strictly 150 numbered copies) > [Sold Out]
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Sonic Vigil began in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral in 2005. Over the years it has established a place for sound to happen in Ireland that is unique in its duration and its persistence. Sonic Vigil is presented by the Cork Artists Collective, the core organiser and assembler has been Mick O’Shea, who with Danny Mc Carthy, has co-curated many of the vigils. Sonic Vigil 4 was curated by the Quiet Club, Gruenrekorder and Soundeye. All those involved in Sonic Vigil would like to thank the staff of the Cathedral and the Deans for welcoming this unusual event.
"A vigil takes time. In the sonic vigil, sound shapes this time. A succession of such times have unfolded at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, and what you hear, here, is the Sonic Vigil of 2009, the fourth, which had a duration of over six hours. In this time, visitors to the cathedral came and went, but listening was ever-present. It is the sound that holds the vigil, awaiting our attention. As we attend, a community forms, resonating into being, through the audible appearance of sounds machinic and organic; vocals, worded and not; recordings from the real world, recordings made only from data, along with home-made and uncanny instrumentation. The Sonic Vigil has always sought to be more than sound, and this begins in the interaction with the stone, wood and glass of the cathedral, and continues in juxtaposition with video art exhbitions, and installations. In the fourth such vigil, the day heard an interplay between sound poetry, field recording, sound art and noise music. Each sonic vigil is unique and almost every moment of it the only time these sounds will combine. This is the first time that the largely improvised day has been captured." Paul Hegarty | 2009
Artist and tracklist
Disc 1
Francis Heery 18.43
Mersk 20.49
Anthony Kelly & David Stalling 19.33
MP3
Angus Carlyle 19.32
Disc 2
The Quiet Club and John Godfrey 17.24
MP3
Oliver Nijs 23.30
SAFE 20.06
Roland Etzin 19.31
Disc 3
Female Orphan Asylum 19.33
Suspicion Breeds Confidence 17.44
MP3
Tony Langlois 21.40
Disc 4
Christine Wertheim 6.19
Jerome Rothenberg 15.08
Jaap Blonk 33.35
14 Tracks (288′27″)
Box Set (4 CDs) (Strictly 150 numbered copies) 2009 | LC 09488
The Sonic Vigil 4 box set is produced by ANEAR Productions and is released by:
Farpoint Recordings (Ireland) and Gruenrekorder (Germany)
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Frans de Waard | VITAL WEEKLY
Its sunday, around noon. The only thing on my desk to review today is ‚Sonic Vigil 4‘, a four CDR set by Gruenrekorder, who curated this as an event (together with the Quiet Club and Soundeye) in Cork, Ireland. Much like what I am doing – sitting back and listen to roughly five hours of music – is what happened on that day at the St. Fin Barre’s cathedral in Cork. Well, ok, that was even an hour longer than this. Fourteen artists here, of which Christene Wertheim brings a six minute and Jaap Blonk a thirty three minute, but all the others are around fifteen to twenty minutes in length (no doubt there has been some editing). Everything that Gruenrekorder stands for passes here: field recordings, improvisation, electronic music – the third disc has a somewhat boring piece by Female Orphan Asylum – and sound poetry. The field recordings are usually ‚hidden‘ in electronic processed pieces, so there are hardly any ‚pure‘ field recording pieces. We come across various names from the label
that we already know, such as Suspicion Breeds Confidence, Roland Etzin, Angus Carlyle but also new names such as Tony Langlois (with a nice piece of spoken words and crazy fucked up sounds), Francis Heery, Olivier Nijs, Safe and Jerome Rothenberg. The latter is to be found on the fourth disc, which is the only one, so it seems, that is based in one musical field, that of sound poetry, together with Christene Wertheim and Jaap Blonk. This is heavy on the dada- connection. Rothenberg performs a whole bunch of Tzara and Schwitters et al pieces along with some electronics. Blonk shows no need for electronics, and has some more abstract pieces of his own here. The undisputed master of sound poetry. Placed at the end, means listening at the end, and that is no easy task after almost four hours of experimental music. At the end of a sunday afternoon, one is tired, but satisfied. The quality varied of course, but throughout a fine collection. It must have been a fine day over there in Cork. (FdW)