A sonic exploration of place and time, past, present and future, via synths and field recordings, Tone Maps is another exhibit in a growing display of prowess in crafting deep evolving compositions.
Folded in to lend an elemental insular/maritime air
The neonate Quiet Details, whose concept is for each artist to give individual expression to the eponymous phrase, hosts Field Lines Cartographer for its second installment. A sonic exploration of place and time, past, present and future, via synths and field recordings, Tone Maps is another exhibit in a growing display of prowess in crafting deep evolving compositions. No mere display, though, as Mark Burford continues to mine the rich vein of previous Dreamtides and This Vibrating Earth with a range of analog and digital synths and FX deployed to create a sonorous floating world.
While continuing in FLC signature style, it’s distinguished by audio captures from Anglesey folded in to lend an elemental insular/maritime air; with the artwork’s blue-green base, suggestive of the spaces of the sounds’ provenance, they evoke a sense of how what-once-was might have been—a place of legend brought to life. Pieces merge into each other to form a whole narrative, affording Tone Maps a sense of navigating a series of expanses. Post-processing methods and modes, notably time-stretching and de-tuning, hint at more ambient drift-type Boards vignettes (see “Crystal Statues,” “A Cloud Of Leaves”), while more organic minimal tracks recall the best of the 12k, Home Normal and Past Inside the Present rosters.
Opening tracks set the tone, esp. “Sodium Glow” with its cadence of undulation, of oceanic horizons, “Crystal Statues” adding musical box-like motifs and synth slivers; “Piezoelectric Shores” pulses with aqueous ripples and Buchla bristles to bring tension-resolution motion, then “Bones of the Earth” takes a darker turn, synthetic swathes plowing through tenebrous depths before a tintinnabulating “Y Ladi Wen” proceeds to luminous effect, heralding the poignant finale of “A Cloud Of Leaves.”
Curated by Alex Gold (Fields We Found), Quiet Details has seen recent interpretations from Luke Sanger, bvdub, The Lifted Index, the latest by ’t Gerius coming soon in Igloo review, but Tone Maps, a March release, is one to seek out first.
Tone Maps is available on Quiet Details [Bandcamp]
