format data release catalogue siji19 discorporation series #4
These pieces represent a series of works that involve meditating on slowly evolving textures in places of stillness and resonance.
1. Still In Here [10:42] was written for the NOW Ensemble. It was performed live at Taplin Auditorium in Princeton, New Jersey on April 4, 2006.
2. Colton Swarm [11:39] was created using recordings of sustained clusters on an electric plastic harmonium.
3. Stay [10:06] was performed live at the Tank in New York City on Valentine's Day, 2005, and is based upon field recordings made on the Brooklyn Bridge. Featuring Mark Dresser on contrabass and Francis-Marie Uitti on cello.
Scott Smallwood is a sound artist and composer whose work is centered upon a practice of field recording, listening, and improvisation. Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in the mountains of Colorado, his fascination with sound began with a cassette recorder he received for his 10th birthday. Ever since he has explored ways of making recordings of his environment, of objects or places, and used them as inspirations for his work. He frequently improvises with computers, electronics, and percussion instruments, both solo and with others, and frequently collaborates with sound artist Stephan Moore as the duo Evidence. His work has been performed and broadcast worldwide, and was most recently featured at the Issue Project Room in NYC, free103point9 Wave Farm in upstate New York, and the 2007 NIME (New Instruments for Musical Expression) Conference in NYC. His work has been released on Autumn Records, Deep Listening, Televaw, Simple Logic, Static Caravan, and Webbed Hand Records.
siji19 | 3 soundscapes
composed by scott smallwood | performed by the now ensemble, mark dresser, francis-marie uitti and scott smallwood| photography by scott smallwood| s i j i s . com | music with a limited appeal |
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Reviewer:LAJ - - February 21, 2008 Subject: Slowly evolving textures in places of stillness and resonance Self-described as “the home of music with limited appeal”, Sijis offers fans of richly textured, experimental soundscapes a rare netlabel appearance from musician, composer, and sound artist Scott Smallwood. Consisting of three pieces approaching 33-minutes in duration, 3 Soundscapes, delves deeply into that hard to define region falling somewhere between Musique Concrète and Phonography.
Born in Dallas, Texas, Scott Smallwood has been interested in sound since he was ten years old when he began recording environmental sounds with a cassette recorder. Field recordings used as catalysts for compositions and improvised performances is one of the driving forces behind his style. He has numerous commercial releases on Deep Listening, as well as physical albums on Autumn Records, Simple, Logic, Static Caravan, Televaw, along with many compilation appearances, including a track on the virtual release Far Afield: A Webbed Hand Compilation.
3 Soundscapes is the fourth episode in the Sijis “discorporation” series (the previous installment being Cheapmachines - The Descendant). Synonyms for “discorporate” are incorporeal, disembodied, bodiless, immaterial etc., so “discorporation” might be a good descriptor as these works are derived from field recordings and real instruments that seem to have been transformed/processed into ghostly images of the original source sounds. The release notes are right on the mark in saying that the “pieces represent a series of works that involve meditating on slowly evolving textures in places of stillness and resonance.”
The single sound source for Colton Swarm appears to be an electric plastic harmonium (similar to a reed/pipe organ). Multiple clusters of prolonged notes/chords are layered bring to life a solid, ethereal wall of reverberating tones over its 11 m 38 s duration. Still In Here is an ambient chamber music piece written for the NOW ensemble recorded live in 2006. Almost 11-minutes of slowly evolving, drifting drones born of real instrumentation consisting of flute, clarinet, electric guitar, double bass, and piano. My personal favorite is the darkly textured Stay, a live recording of a 2005 live performance based on field recordings made on the Brooklyn Bridge along with contrabass and cello. Heavily processed/edited there’s not much evidence of the real instruments involved. This piece is a 10-minute opaquely textured, droning nightmare that conjures images of approaching swarm of bees and the laments of tortured souls along with some soulless mechanized chaos.
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