CDr – Winds Measure

Suikinkutsu No Katawara Ni is the latest work by Lawrence English and is published by Winds Measure, a Brooklyn label focused on experimental music and run by Ben Owen. English is remembered for his work with Akio Suzuki and their “creative restoration” of John Cage’s One11 With 103, as well as the collaborative sound mapping made in 2011 on Room 40. The works featured in this album are the result of performances that took place in Japan and Australia between 2003 and 2011.The recordings are very fluid and are suggestive of a sort of organic form of granular synthesis. We encounter captures of “metallic” water from a suikinkutsu, a Japanese garden ornament and musical object consisting of ceramic pot placed up-side-down in the ground that amplifies droplets of water splashing into a submerged pool. The resulting sound is said to be somewhere between a bell and a koto (the latter being a traditional Japanese stringed instrument belonging to the zither family). These field recording blend into sequences that are variously dynamic, meditative and fragmented with buzzes, natural sounds and street noises. The work is free from unnatural additions and manipulated forms: the author acts only on the sounds he wants to underline, enlivening the structures with drum patterns. Listeners will find likely themselves focusing on the overall sonic world, only becoming aware of some of the more nuanced details after repeated listening. English has created an enjoyable and exotic aesthetic and a very pleasant listening experience.

 

Lawrence English – Suikinkutsu No Katawara Ni