mounted onto
letterpressed paper.
1. Erosion A (17:17)
2. Erosion B (23:46)
3. The Analogous Eye (25:28)
Foxy
Digitalis
Review
by P. Somnifeum
June
2009
The Helen
Scarsdale Agency continues their ongoing excellence with their release Erosion
of the Analogous Eye,
by Matt Shoemaker. With past titles including artists such as Omit, BJ
Nilsen, Stilluppsteypa et al, Scarsdale is a label that can be counted
on for consistency and taste. Nothing changes that track record here
with their release of Shoemaker's latest. Again, drone seems to be a
dominant idiom these days, and there are varying grades of the, well,
let's face it, the genre. The one-sheet mentions some gnarly
contraptions: Slinkies strung from the ceiling to create reverb,
complex (I read singular) wiring of analog synths, no doubt he
emphasizes process. However, the results are mesmerizing and captivate
that eternal objective of drone: intuiting the eternal itself. Unlike
other lesser drones, Shoemaker employs subtle pops and coarse textures
which curiously do not detract from his largely organic (or are they?)
monumental swells and shrink-dripping contractions. The music swirls
ahead with cosmic velocity only to be called back to more terrestrial
abodes by Earthly chimes and magnetic mineral attractions. Indeed, it's
the rising and falling which gives this music its organic shape,
ringing true to experience.
The Sound Projector
Review by Ed Pinsent
June 2009
Matt
Shoemaker is the
Seattle sound-artist who perches midway between arrayed ranks of
analogue synths, exotic field recordings from Eastern lands, and a
computer with the sort of processing power that even Pixar are envious
of. Here's his new release Erosion Of The Analogous Eye,
full of noises which certainly live up to its sponsor's claims of
'mesmerising' what with the shimmering fields of sound that elide back
and forth between semi-recognisable human shapes and completely
abstracted electronic fields of impossibility. Shoemaker is evolving
into a plausible matchstick we can hold alongside the twin flambeaux of
murmur and Lopez. 300 copies only of this nifty item, due to its
hand-made cover artworks.
Vital Weekly
Review
by Frans de Waaard
June
2009
...According to
the cover of Shoemaker's new CD
'environmental phenomena' where recorded in Indonesia, Cambodia and
USA, but its hard to spot these on the actual music, as he feeds them
through a whole bunch of analogue synthesizers, guitar stomp boxes,
reverb and such like. Only in the last piece 'The Analogous Eye' bird
calls and wind sounds rise out of the mass, but even here things seems
electrified. This makes that Shoemaker's music is altogether more
'electronic' in nature than that of Haynes or Irr.App.(ext.) and also a
bit more 'louder', industrial perhaps. In his music he depicts empty
industrial sites of long sustaining, rusty sounds of rusty object on
even more rusty surfaces. The two parts of 'Erosion' are highly
minimalist affairs of long sustained sounds. Not to be confused with
the current wave of 'cosmic' sound artists, this goes further and
deeper. An excellent work, sadly perhaps limited to 300 copies only.
Dusted
Review
by Bill Meyer
August
2009.
Things aren't
always what they seem. It's not that
hard to pick out analogue synthesizers, running water, and bird songs
from the dense layers of sound on Erosion of the Analogous Eye,
but note the title. Perhaps Shoemaker is commenting upon the toll that
perceiving takes upon the organs of perception but it's also an apt
description of the experience of listening to the three tracks on this
CD.
You'll also
hear all manner of whistles, tolls,
grumbles, and grinds that are not only harder to place than the
aforementioned sources, but morph as you hear them. The audible process
of change casts uncertainty upon what you think you recognize. If that
sound started as a bell and finished as a shuddering, stone-on-stone
abrasion, what's more real? Couldn't the realistic-sounding ring be the
product of processing and not the rumble?
Doubt and
questions accumulate; there's a point
during the third track. The Analogous Eye, where it seems that we're
hearing a naked field recording. Sticks snap, bugs whine, birds sing,
and water rushes in the background. But then one bird starts repeating
the same phrase over and over, unchanging; did the bird really do that
or did Shoemaker loop its song? If you can't trust the bird to be real,
is that really water in the background? And that massive sound that
continually swells and clarifies as it plows through wildlife to the
piece's end; is it the airplane engine it starts out resembling, the
brass choir that seems to finish, or something else altogether?
However you hear it, it's a
lovely ending to a
marvelous piece of organized sound. Shoemaker may challenge you to
question what you hear, but he simultaneously invites the listener to
accept, even surrender to his music. The album's opening oscillations
move as gradually and inexorably as a fog bank, inviting the listener
to lay back and be rolled over. The reverberant metal reports that open
the second piece, Erosion B, might have been made through violent
action, but they're both lulling and focusing. It's all good, you won't
get hurt. Just turn it up, lay back, and wonder.
Assurément un maître
dans
l’élaboration d’espaces sonores aussi prenants qu’impalpables, Matt
Shoemaker apporte une nouvelle pierre à l’édifice vibrant et lumineux
qu’il na de cesse de construire depuis une décennie.
L’artiste américain poursuit son
parcours qui, de ses débuts sur le label de Bernhard Günter
jusqu'à ses enregistrements plus récents chez Helen Scarsdale, est
d’une cohérence remarquable. Cette fidélité à Helen Scarsdale, il la
partage avec Jim Haynes ou Loren Chasse dont les travaux ont
indéniablement un degré de parenté avec ceux de Shoemaker. Erosion
Of The Analogous Eye
incorpore ainsi des field recordings de provenances diverses (ici des «
phénomènes environnementaux » captés en Indonésie, au Cambodge ou aux
USA) à des compositions électroacoustiques immersives où les sources
sonores sont subtilement altérées, combinées les unes aux autres pour
devenir insaisissables tout en gardant un fort pouvoir d’évocation.
A
l’écoute de la première des trois plages (« Erosion A »), on se
laisserait presque tenté par le catalogage facile : ah oui encore un
disque à ranger dans la catégorie drone/ambient ! Pourtant, même si
l’on est rapidement happé par une atmosphère enveloppante et sans
pesanteur, de multiples dimensions émergent au fur et à mesure que l’on
pénètre dans la pièce. Une lente dérive se met en place, se densifie
méticuleusement, change imperceptiblement de fréquence et, au cours de
ces transformations, révèle en arrière-plan des mouvements qui évoluent
en toute indépendance. Avec une rigueur extrême et en même temps tout à
fait naturelle, différentes strates se déplacent chacune dans leur
direction, accélèrent, décelèrent, créant des déphasages à l’origine de
pulsations que l’on distingue malgré leur degré d’enfouissement. Le
lointain bourdonnement d’un moteur d’avion ou quelques percussions
carillonnantes sont les rares éléments concrets discernables.
«
Erosion B » débute dans un tout autre registre : martèlement
métallique, ambiance de rituel occulte, résonances lugubres qui se
fondent en une masse dense et caverneuse. Une fois le pic d’intensité
dépassé, différentes sources instrumentales et environnementales sont
mises à contribution : cordes vibrant sous l’effet d’un champ
magnétique, clapotis délicat, trafic routier, courants d’air ou d’eau.
Le disque se conclut avec « The Analogous Eye » qui se rapproche le
plus de l’idée de soundscape avec une progression irrégulière et
feutrée : rythme de la nature qui s’éveille, ondées passagères, feu de
paille, ouverture de pierre tombale, paysages brumeux et omniprésente
activité animale. Au final, un disque superbe qui fait preuve d’un très
grand contrôle dans le déploiement des structures et d’une patte unique
dans le traitement électronique du son sans jamais recourir à
l’artifice.
