CD- Winds Measure

When a work is made with the use of audio captures, the relationship between the sounds recorded by the artist and the environment where the listening experience takes place is often complicated and can be affected by uncertainty of intention. The act of listening can give life to some unprecedented experiences. A precise analysis of this David Papapostolou work would seem to offer some resolution to the difficult questions surrounding the problem of authorship. Listeners to this piece could very clearly create their own versions – and this is exactly what is happening now while I write this review: from the speaker come natural sounds and the tweetings of birds. To paraphrase De Chirico (who was talking about vision): “it’s better to listen and not look for any meaning”. However, every recording is the starting point of a refined mechanism. Here the elements are well defined: the captures were made in both natural and urban environments, perhaps city suburbs, with metallic noises and the sound of traffic in the distance. Each composition – in reality – is part of the same capture from which the other sounds emerge: these sounds are highlighted in the contrasts and in the relationship between noise and silence. The project comprises three tracks, which are meticulously ordered and very sensitive. The sound events and their durations are casually determined, but precise parameters provide additional data on how notes correspond to the frequencies in action: the methodology is complex but works well in tandem with the poetics of the project.

 

David Papapostolou – Contrastes