All but one of the tracks clock in at roughly five minutes and are quite reminiscent of dust, I suppose, settling randomly yet evenly, inevitably, but then being pushed around by gusts of air, human contact—two or three notes trembling self-consciously, a guitar string that seems to have been struck more by curiosity than intent, a harmonium left stranded on the seashore, being played by fingers of wind.
[Release page] Marcus Fischer is a minimalist musician and multimedia artist based in Portland, Oregon, whose recording career began in earnest only two years ago. From January 2009 through January 2010, Fischer maintained a blog called Dust Breeding to document the results of his goal at complete one creative “thing” a day for 365 days (and then every now and again—to date there are 432 entries). These things included photography, field recordings, design, illustration, sewing, video, and of course music. Each piece on Collected Dustfirst appeared in its original form on the website. Tench’s M. Ostermeier chose a handful of pieces, each of which was reworked by Fischer for this release; he certainly chose well, either that or Fischer has responded well to the platforms Ostermeier suggested.
All but one of the tracks clock in at roughly five minutes and are quite reminiscent of dust, I suppose, settling randomly yet evenly, inevitably, but then being pushed around by gusts of air, human contact—two or three notes trembling self-consciously, a guitar string that seems to have been struck more by curiosity than intent, a harmonium left stranded on the seashore, being played by fingers of wind. Fischer just jostles motes, he is a very subtle interactor. Halfway through, he stretches himself over thirteen-plus minutes with “Halfway to Six.” It has a drifty, almost symmetrically repetitive, generative nature, as if programmed and left to find its own way, though I suspect instead that a lot of work went into its crafting.
Like the average, reasonably neglected household, Fischer´s dust gathers slowly, almost unnoticeably. The album is also a nice companion to his release with Taylor Deupree (In a Place of Such Graceful Shapes), who mastered this recording,
Collected Dust is available on Tench. [Release page]
