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Robert Hampson, "Répercussions"
Even with his recent return to the guitar and reactivation of Main, Robert Hampson has still made time to record new material under his own name, with another album to follow this Fall. Repercussions is not quite an album but more a compilation of recent works, using different source materials and compositional strategies, but all bear that unmistakable stamp of quality Hampson is known for.
Répercussions is three distinct pieces compiled into one album:the title track, commissioned by the GRM for the Akousma Festival in 2011; "De la Terre à la Lune," from a 2009 planetarium performance in France, and finally "Antarctica Ends Here," which was previously released on a split 10" with Cindytalk.
The name of the title piece is a completely descriptive one, constructed from a variety of percussive sources, from drums to piano to metal grates and found objects.The distant, resonating thump that opens up the track is perhaps the clearest use of drums in the entire work: everything else is transformed and processed beyond recognition.The traditional and non-traditional instrumentation is reconstructed and mutated into crackling textures, electronic beacons, resonating bells and shimmering waves of sound.The second half is a bit more dissonant, with darker undercurrents swelling and falling over heavily treated clinks and clatters.It takes a turn for the quiet later on, with the occasional crash or bang from some unidentifiable source shaking things up.
"De la Terre à la Lune" is conceptually based around early NASA space missions, and acts as a follow-up to the Vectors track "Ahead-Only The Stars," channeling that same mix of sci-fi imagery with careful electro-acoustic composition.Quiet ocean-like waves of sound are paired with a mechanical hum before a rhythmic electronic pulse comes in, sounding somewhere between a broken sequencer and a distant radio transmission.Recurring static, again resembling far away communications appear throughout, with the odd hums and tones of unclear origin coming across like the ambient sound of technology from some alternate future.
The most striking aspect of these two pieces is that there is a constant, evolving dynamic to them.While both clock in at over 20 minutes, they evolve so much that there is no time to become stagnant.Like Hampson's recent Main performances, a constant flow of sound is the theme, all the while intricate layers and tactile noises appear and dissolve at a rapid pace.
The slight exception to this is the closing "Antarctica Ends Here," which adheres to a more steady course in comparison, though not in a boring sense at all.Recordings of wind coursing through bamboo fields are paired with processed and plaintive piano work.The slow, traditional sounding notes are combined with stretched and processed recordings that are stretched into melodic infinity.Compared to the other two, these overall sounds and themes stay pretty static, but slowly build in density and complexity toward the end.Not in a repetitious sense, but it remains more "on course" than the other two.
Robert Hampson seems to be active in occasional spurts of activity, and every time he has released music, it has been brilliant.From Vectors a few years back to this album, and of course including his expansive discographies as Main and with Loop, I have yet to hear anything other than genius from him.It should be noted that Répercussions includes the same material on a multi-track DVD Audio disc, but I did not have access to that for this review.Given that the first two pieces were originally multi-channel installations, I am certain it only adds to its greatness.
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