In an age where noise-cancellation and meditation apps increasingly seek to simulate silence and inner peace by artificial means, architect-composer-electronic musician Isambard Khroustaliov (aka Sam Britton) and sociologist-improviser-composer Tom Arthurs propose a range of site-specific immersive rituals, reconnecting to nature, ourselves and the world around us, with a rare and crystalline depth.
As we reconsider our world and ourselves post-pandemic, amid changing views of globalisation, colonisation and climate emergency, Arthurs and Khroustaliov draw our attention to the immediate and local, with a tender, warm and intimate focus.
Guiding us in and out of the familiar, the real, and the surreal, the trio reconsider and redress the beauty we have before us: just what’s there, in front of our eyes, ears and noses.
Augmented Nature.
Looking Seeking Understanding.
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This album documents a four-part surround-sound live performance on the island of Ufenau, in the lake of Zürich (Switzerland), and that took place in July 2022.
The residency and performance was commissioned by the annual festival Musiksommer am Zürichsee (curated by Manuel Bärtsch), and culminated in an immersive concert in the island’s exquisite 12th-century St.Martin’s chapel.
Tom and Isambard collected field recordings in the church, on the island and in its surroundings, using a variety of conventional microphones and hydrophones, and microscopically documented the island's environment, wildlife and uniquely delightful inner life.
These materials were then lovingly sculpted and edited, in order to be used as a foundation for performance and instant composition, creating a hyper-realistic multichannel installation that provides the perfect foundation for exploration and dialogue with the crystal-clear, meditative and deeply sensitive trumpet playing of Tom Arthurs.
credits
released November 5, 2023
Tom Arthurs, trumpet
Isambard Khroustaliov, field recordings and sound diffusion
Tom Arthurs and Isambard Khroustaliov have been collaborating for over 15 years on various experimental projects, releasing
'Vaucanson's Muse' (2015) and 'Hangkerum' (2018). They have toured with Olly Coates and Joanna MacGregor realising graphic scores, and now go forward with site-specific meditations on natural environments under the moniker 'Augmented Nature'....more
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