Thomas Ankersmit – Live In Utrecht

Thomas Ankersmit

CD – Ash
Thomas Ankersmit, a Dutch saxophonist and electronic composer, has finally released a solo album. Now based in Berlin, the artist is accustomed to installation work, though this time he is creating for the Ash label, sister of the better known and more celebrated Touch. This long suite of nearly 39 minutes, recorded live during a performance in Utrecht at the end of 2007, unfolds with an insistent modulation of tones and micro-interferences, rather abstract and ethereal conjunctions obtained by overlaying the tracks using a modular analog synthesizer, a computer and – of course – the instrument of choice of this refined author and musician. The continuum, shaped into abstract movements, researches unconventional electro-acoustic spaces before finally veering towards multiform bases and aural expressions, which, although minimal, shine with a rich palette of sounds. An important contribution to this work came from Valerio Tricoli, a researcher from Palermo, Sicily, responsible for processing some of the materials, both pre-recorded parts and parts produced using reel-to-reel technology.