Groundless

Label: trente oiseaux

Catalog#: TOC 004

Format: CD

Country: Germany

Released: Sept. 2000

Tracklisting:

1. groundless (55:50)

Press:

Matt Shoemaker - Groundless
Trente Oiseaux

Matt Shoemaker's Groundless is a debut of remarkable skill and depth. The single fifty-five minute track deftly pulls the listener through a remarkable scope of listening environments, while retaining a feel of empty space and loneliness throughout. The sounds are often in the hinter space between concrete and electronic, not quite recognizable but all too familiar at the same time. As the name implies, just as you are beginning to get your bearings the sounds morph and the soil seems to slip from under your feet

Unlike the "landscapes" of some electronic music, where one is spectator to a passing view, listening to Groundless I feel as if I have been dropped in a pre-existing sound field and allowed to move freely within it. The work is cinematic yet unforced, often employing quiet, heavy-reverb sounds that seem to drift over from some distance away. Loud and close-up sounds appear only sparingly, creating a pocket of silence around the listener that calls on the imagination to fill in the darkness.

It is no wonder that Bernhard Günter's description of the album on the Trente Oiseaux webpage is so enthusiastic - listening to the album I was immediately pulled into the stark night of the soundscape. On first listen I couldn't even make it through all the way, as I was having a sad day and the loneliness was too much to take. Anyone with an interest in soundscapes should find this potent, powerful music. Günter and his label deserve applause for consistently placing quality music over popular names, and introducing us to this exciting new artist.

                                                                                 

review by Paul Roquet - BravoPop