Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
I am listening to Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Aerial while I type this. Yes, “texture driven” is an astute summary of her imaginings. Likewise, her work is “mental” and body-directed (as opposed to cerebral) as you suggest – but also (don’t laugh) it is old school modernist. It is modernist in that physical form is its primary vessel for content; space and texture are the ‘doors in’ and the work is only real and complete when the listener inhabits it.
I am genuinely pleased to see you and Stereophile pointing reader’s minds towards music that is tangible and physical not just trucken’ wit the doo daa man. Music that is sound-based rather than melody-based.
Being an audiophile means we pay special attention to how recordings sound. All audiophiles study and analyze the physical vibrations appearing between their speakers. Artists like Pauline Oliveros and Anna Thorvaldsdottir eliminate the toe-tapping and head-bobbing in order to focus our attentions on the physicality of sound. Their compositions invite us to bathe and meditate in (environments of) pure physical sonic form.
(This music succeeds when it captivates and intrigues.)
What more could an audiophile want?
"The subject we are concerned with is sound" ---He(a)r
You are not in trouble when I next see you.
Peace love and a holiday hug,
herbo