ICR
Steven Stapleton and Colin Potter's voluntary three-month banishment tothe icy realms of Lofoten, Norway has borne fruit in the form of thisdouble album on ICR. As was reported, these two prime movers ofexperimental sound were sent high above the Arctic Circle May throughJuly of this year, with limited recording equipment and no musicalinstruments, to record a series of audio responses to their harshenvironment, which were then transmitted to the local mariner's radiostation at unannounced intervals. Stapleton and Potter have furtheredited and processed the original broadcasts, ending up with a total oftwo hours of sound, seven lengthy tracks. Shipwreck Radioworks best when Stapleton and Potter seem to be genuinely interactingand responding to their alien, inhospitable environment, rather thanfalling back on familiar NWW strategies. The microcosmic sound world ofice slowly melting and cracking apart merge with the lonely, distantcalls of arctic seabirds on the compelling "June 17," which slowlybackslides into glacial crevasse where a mutually indecipherableconversation between Stapleton and a Norwegian child is repeatedlylooped and mutated. Each track is named for the date that it wasbroadcast, and a handy map of the Lofoten Archipelago is printed on thediscs themselves, showing the geographical location where eachrecording was made. When the artists seem to be most engaged with theirenvironment — forming makeshift percussion out of blocks of ice, partsof vessels and disused metal scrap and transforming recordings ofarctic creatures, water runoff and wind tunnel noises into organicdrones — Shipwreck Radio really clicks as an album and aconcept. On the opposite end of the spectrum are tracks like thealbum's opener "June 15," which renders the source recordingscompletely unrecognizable, digitally processing them into a distorted,post-industrial rhythmic dirge that wears out its welcome well beforethe ten-minute mark has been reached. Colin Potter's droning muse seemsto have exerted a stronger influence on disc two, which exploitsenvironmental noises and subtle looping and processing to createtextural expanses of beautifully chilly ambience. "June 5" sounds likean orchestra slowly succumbing to the pulse-deadening effects ofhypothermia, stretching out each chord to epic lengths, as ever moreminute bits of audio detritus pan around the stereo channels. As thealbum trudges on, things become darker, more menacing and moresluggish, perhaps as a result of the inevitable fatigue experienced insuch a hostile environment where the sun unmercifully shines for nearly24 hours each day. There is an organic, impromptu feel to much of thismusic that lends it an immediacy not usually experienced with NurseWith Wound music, which often seems rather painstakingly processed,mutated and generally tortured to within an inch of its life. Thishelps the album operate as a sort of freeform travelogue or audiodiary. The first edition of 100 copies came with a bonus disc, Lofoten Deadhead(a reference to the excerpted bit of Norwegian radio where a localexplains why the Grateful Dead is "the ultimate band"), which containsmore variations on the same audio sources, as well as a 30-minute trackof untreated recordings of Stapleton and Potter experimenting withdifferent methods of creating compelling noises from theirsurroundings, fussing about with objects and arguing with each other.It's unfortunate that this was not included on the album proper, as itis both entertaining and provides a glimpse into the duo's workingmethods that enriches the material on the other two discs. Takentogether, even with its momentary lapses of originality, Shipwreck Radio is a fascinating entry in both artists' substantial discographies.
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