[ reviews ]
53. conops [ • rec. 2007 ]
Francisco López - "conops" (CD GD Stereo, USA 2008)
Silent Spaniard sound-magus Francisco López hasn't invaded my consciousness much of late, and I'm happy to report that his newie conops (GD STEREO #GD020) is composed of layered field recordings rather than being one of his near-silent compositions which I have to admit I find so trying to my patience. Here, several recordings from 'multiple locations' have been gathered from the man's travels made between 1990 and 2005, and carefully layered into a highly compelling vision of abstraction. Birds and insect sounds seem to predominate, but unlike Chris Watson who wishes to document these things for their own sake, the strategy here is to build a prismatic, slowly-shifting canopy that starts to assume the proportions of a gigantic vivarium. A good one, joining auspicious company among the catalogue of Geoff Dugan's superb NYC label. www.thesoundprojector.com (July 2008)
Silent Spaniard sound-magus Francisco López hasn't invaded my consciousness much of late, and I'm happy to report that his newie conops (GD STEREO #GD020) is composed of layered field recordings rather than being one of his near-silent compositions which I have to admit I find so trying to my patience. Here, several recordings from 'multiple locations' have been gathered from the man's travels made between 1990 and 2005, and carefully layered into a highly compelling vision of abstraction. Birds and insect sounds seem to predominate, but unlike Chris Watson who wishes to document these things for their own sake, the strategy here is to build a prismatic, slowly-shifting canopy that starts to assume the proportions of a gigantic vivarium. A good one, joining auspicious company among the catalogue of Geoff Dugan's superb NYC label. www.thesoundprojector.com (July 2008)