NS3007 - Loren Chasse - The Footpath

mp3 - footpath appariation



"loren chasse places his ear to the earth and becomes a microphone... hands on stones, stones against stones, a cymbal, dust blown, a strum, earth sounding, earth turning, leaves, wind, tones, drones, moments fading in, fields fading out, something from another atmosphere, something as another music, not music of the spheres, but this sphere, a music of the earth rolling, like a cloud floats, like blades of grass walked upon, with gentle tones droning, the music of dirt, the music of dust, the moving back and forth in wind, tones ringing, and more tones ring, quietly, strings are plucked as though moved by wind, and then breeze, and pause, and begin again, in another place.

here, sounds move like rolling a coin along the ground on its edge - simple, gentle, yet full of wonder... music at its most tactile nature, quietly rubbing dirt clods in your hands until dust... drift, a whole lot of drift, of small crackling presences, clear wind, field recordings of unknown activities, and tones again but this time more present - more music, and then a feeling like sagebrush rolling in wind, desolate, and then the tones return, and there are all these moments when desolate becomes beauty. there are shifts and also stillness...

we are told we are on a footpath, but even more so, we are submerged inside of an ear-path, where the earth is transformed not through handling, but through listening.

loren places his ear upon the earth and begins his journey. we've all wished at times that we could present our dreams, or other complex things inside of us, to others exactly as we can see or hear them within us. in this case, loren has given us access to this little listening space inside his head, for we hear things we could only hear if we were inside him - it is the sounds of the world, sometimes manipulated by his hands, resonating through the earth and moving into us through his ears."

steve roden (august 2008)

Loren Chasse is a man of many guises, while his recent solo
releases being issued under the moniker Of for the past couple of
years, his constant output via Jewelled Antler related projects has
continued with his revolving presence in Thuja, Blithe Sons, Softwar,
Ov, Kyrgyz, and many others. The work that Loren produces under his
own name tends toward the sound art end of his aesthetic spectrum,
closer to his work with Id Battery and Coelacanth than the field
recordist approach to rural psychedelia found in those Jewelled Antler
efforts. Throughout all of his sonic pursuits, Chasse's use of sound
has always been to spark the imagination and generate a sense of
mystery; and that is certainly the case here on The Footpath.
A dark cloud of rumbles and growls announces the beginning of
this album, as Chasse grasps several heavy rocks in his hands and
caresses their surfaces with sand, dirt, leaves, water, ash, and other
debris. As is often the case, these recordings have been recorded
outside with a contact microphone or two and a digital recorder. So
the external sounds of the environment creep into these crackling
textures and eroded drones. The lulling fluctuations of surf and wind
are most common, indicative of Chasse's continued wanderings up and
down the California coast. But, you will also find the buzzing slash
of an insect chorus or the smoldering bristle from a campfire. Chasse
deftly abstracts these softened noises without ever making them sound
like they had been processed in the digital arena. Every piece here
enjoys a wonderfully rough hewn quality with the edges torn, tattered,
and frayed. Hints of the melodic phrasing which Chasse brings to
Jewelled Antler pop up on sporadic occasion in small two note phrases,
that only barely pass for melodies, emerging from the mire and debris,
or with his zither buried within a cloud of tape hiss and bunker
reverberations, replayed and re-recorded numerous times exacerbating
all of that tactile crunch. Chasse's work always comes recommended,
and The Footpath is no exception!

aQuarius Records

A musical haze, with some light stationary, a p'tite breeze, an echo whispering in fact a series of mysterious and seductive Phono (2004-2007) realized in roadsides early in the morning ... Editing and mixing magic and offering douceur to those records. Falsely minimum and ghostly, evocative and beautiful. Recommended for sensitive souls

Metamkine