CD – Denovali

This new release by Matthew Collings – a composer now based in Scotland – is published by Denovali and features six compositions. Collings, who has been involved in several interesting collaborations (e.g. with Dag Rosenqvist of Jasper TX and Talvinhorros), is often active in other artistic contexts such as dance, film and installations (Burning Man Festival/Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts), and receives commissions to create sound for old movies and new documentaries (“The Man With The Movie Camera” by Dziga Vertov, “The Invisibles” for Amnesty International). His years in Ireland should also be remembered for a lo-fi / ambient project entitled Sketches for Albinos, which in some ways acts as a precursor to the environmental and narrative attitude that is found between the grooves today. The album’s fertile sequences are constructed with a strong sense of an emotional story, full of moments of delicate intimacy, noise and colourful audio emergencies. Guitar is the main focus here, a tool expertly wielded by the composer. The instrument acts as the supporting structure of the album, creating a balance of classic and contemporary sounds that flirt with drone music and the iterative modulations of conceptual soundtracks. Silence is a rhythm, though here there is little true silence, but rather a sum of small parts. We encounter a progression of rarefied, melancholy landscapes that will appeal to quietists but are never dull in their dealings.

Matthew Collings – Stills