This project takes a unique approach to music: rather than instrumentation, it is based around the sound of writing and drawing. It makes for some original textures but it lacks a coherent feeling and compositional structure that would have made it more compelling.
The audial byproduct of a pencil or pen scraping against paper is often ignored as the necessary and forgetable side effect of a different artistic project entirely. Craig Dongoski (aided by Aaron Turner of Isis with numerous album covers to his credit) chooses to focus on this subtle element and make it the basis of an experimental work.
Samples of writing and drawing are processed and utilized throughout, sometimes very clearly and overt ("Scattered Shavings," "A Choir Speaks") while in other cases are stretched to a different texture entirely ("Mask," "Being Born Broken"). Other samples are utilized such as female voice fragments on "Mask" and Turner himself contributing some highly effected guitar, most notable on "Shrine of Wreckless Illumination." The sounds vary widely from track to track: both of the "Being Born Broken" tracks are based upon lo-fi samples, rhythmic synth sounds and loops of digitally processed noise while "Scattered Shavings" has the recognizable sounds of drawing paired with segments of disembodied voices, rough field recordings, and digitized rain sounds.
Taken as a whole, the disc features some rather exceptional textures and sounds, especially given their source. However, the weakness of the disc is that it feels more like a pastiche of sounds rather than a specific composition. It lacks the sense of structure and development that the bigger names in the avant garde field tend to build upon. Given the unique approach to the work, I think it is something Dongoski can build upon and refine with future work.
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