Marker | Jeremy Bible & Jason Henry
Gr 062 | Gruen CD-R > [Sold Out]
MP3 > iTunes
Processed Field Recordings & Electro-Acoustic Sound Art Collage
01 ast
02 fragmnt
03 marker
04 glacr
05 indnt
5 Tracks (62’48“)
CD-R (50 copies)
SYNOPSIS: Marker is the first in a two part album concept for the Gruenrekorder label by Canton, Ohio, US based sound artists Jeremy Bible & Jason Henry. Marker combines multiple elements in order to create constructed fictional environments, realities, locations, and atmospheres. Field recordings captured from the northeast Ohio region and often times in and around the individual artist’s homes, processed and clean, play a large part, alongside treated and processed acoustic instruments and subtle touches of electronic sound design.
CONCEPT: The two albums, Marker and Magnet, were created with the intention of being experienced both individually and consecutively allowing for up to four unique listening contexts. It is also recommended that the pieces which the two albums are comprised of are combined and experienced in a random manner creating infinite listening experiences.
PROCESS: The sound elements presented on both Marker & Magnet were recorded, composed, performed, collected, and organized by the artists individually over a period of time for the intention of a single impromptu & improvised collaborative recording session. Following this ‘content collection’ period the artists met for a lengthy recording session at Jeremy Bible’s Experimedia Studio1 where these individual sound elements were arranged, processed, and mixed by the two artists in an improvisational manner under conditions of half sleep like states of subconscious focus. The elements of surprise introduced in a collaborative improvisational recording scenario play a large role in the duo’s process and resulting sound works.
Audio: Jeremy Bible & Jason Henry / Canton, Ohio, United States / 2007
Arranged, Processed, and Mixed at Experimedia Studio1
North Canton, Ohio, United States / 2007
Artwork: Jeremy Bible, Canton, Ohio / 2008
Gruenrekorder / Germany / 2008 / Gr 062 / LC 09488
Frans de Waard | VITAL WEEKLY
Following releases on their own Experimedia label, its now time to expand the horizon. Music by Jeremy Bible and Jason Henry was already reviewed before (586 and 638), exploring further what they already started: found sounds, electronic treatments thereof, acoustic instruments. On ‚Marker‘ five long tracks, which seem to me be originating in improvisation, but which perhaps could have used a bit more editing. Once the mighty wheel of mechanical loops is set in motion, it seems that the end is reached of a piece, except it goes on for some more time. Throughout it seems that they are using more rhythm (or easier: repeated chunks of music) than on the previous releases I heard. Its not dance music in any way, but just continuos mechanical loops with sounds added to them. Interesting to see them make this move, but the execution of the five pieces is a bit weak. Only ‚Glacr‘ which sounded like the previous work worked quite well. Too long, too many repetitions of ideas, whereas things could have been much shorter and then it could be more interesting I think. Brave to step away, but its not enough yet. Explore this route more I’d say. (FdW)
Marker is very much sonically in keeping with the other two, despite the fact that it’s issued on Gruenrekorder, a label more known for its field recordings output than experimental electronic music-making. Much like Vector, the hour-long Marker features four extended settings (fourteen minutes apiece) and a shorter outro. As before, field elements (e.g., children’s voices, radio talk show conversations) and natural sounds (e.g., cymbal percussion) swim in thick electronic baths amidst alien noises of unidentifiable character. The release rarely resembles music of any conventional kind and is clearly geared towards the listener weaned on heavily abstracted soundscaping. The industrial soundscaping of “Ast” unfolds in a queasy ebb-and-flow that feels akin to a turbulent dream-state, after which phantoms drift through an industrial wasteland in “Fragmnt.” The recording’s finest moment arrives when Bible and Henry navigate vast expanses of frozen tundra during the vaporous epic “Glacr,” a slowly heaving mass of ambient cloud formations whose immensity overshadows all that’s come before. The tranquil closer “Indnt” is almost as appealing, despite being the complete opposite of “Glacr” in so many ways. Even so, ending the album with gentle guitar shadings and restrained atmospheric textures (including a re-appearance of the earlier talk show snippets) is a smart move on the creators‘ part given that it’s the last impression the listener takes away when the recording’s done. File all three releases under “immersive headphones listening.”
Field Recordings und akustisches Instrumentarium sowie deren ausgiebige Bearbeitung bilden das Fundament für »Marker«, dem vorliegenden ersten Part eines zweiteiligen Albumkonzepts auf Gruenrekorder. Dessen Urheber sind Jeremy Bible & Jason Henry, ein, milde ausgedrückt, veröffentlichungs- freudiges Tonkünstlerduo aus Ohio, deren zu Beginn etwas distanziert wirkenden Klangraumentwürfen man sich idealerweise mit Kopfhörern und viel Aufmerksamkeit nähert.
Denn gleich die ersten drei der insgesamt fünf Stücke umfassenden CD präsentieren sich als jeweils knapp viertelstündige, ziemlich spröde Skizzen. Diese machen es, düster pointiert und oft mit ein wenig zu auffällig arbeitenden rhythmischen Loops durchsetzt, einem nicht immer leicht, fokussiert zu bleiben. Nur allzu schnell verliert man sich in den weitläufigen Nebenhöhlen aus bis zur Unkenntlichkeit herangezoomten Sounds, tackernden Rhythmen und Field Recordings von Alltagsgeräuschen. Eine merkwürdig faszinierende, ausgedehnte Klangschattenwelt, die langsam vorbei zieht und erst mit dem vorletzten Track »Glacr« emotional greifbarer wird.
Dieser bietet fein geschwungene, hypnotische Ambientflächen mit sanften Geräuschbruchlinien. Gletscherspaltenmusik, die mit unverhohlenem Hang zum Symphonischen angenehm an die besten Momente von Biospheres Breitwandepos »Substrata« zu erinnern vermag. Versöhnlich schließlich auch der Ausklang, in dem sich bereits zuvor verwendete Ausschnitte aus Talkshows zwischen melancholisch verkatertem Gitarrengeplonker verflüchtigen. Ich sag es mal so: ein seltsames Album, bei dem es sich durchaus lohnen kann, über gewisse anfängliche Unnahbarkeiten hinwegzuhören.