Celer

Cursory Asperses

RM4233

March 1, 2024

Digital/CD

Recorded in 2007 and 2008, Cursory Asperses was created with cassette tape recordings of water sounds from various rivers, streams, lakes, beaches, and pools, combined with direct to tape instrument recordings from synthesizers, an organ, cello, piano, and bowed instruments.

Instead of traditionally mixing these, at the time we were interested in
software, using free Mac OS Classic programs such as Audiosculpt and
Soundhack. Before we had a DAW, before VSTs, we used non-realtime
convolution processing through software, using the water recordings as an impulse for the instrument sounds. The instrument sounds were
“arranged” (by adding silence before, during, or after) in layered, visual
swathes, to create an audio interpretation of the movement of water and waves, slowly evolving and shifting, for a meditation on deep and focused listening. Opposed to passivity, where sounds become lost in distant tones and layers upon layers are misinterpreted as single, meaningless tones.

Or, it’s just as meaningless as the passing of water, the flow of rivers – the crashes of sparkling ocean waves, all those sounds that we recognize. The tones are unpolished, left in their fuzzy form, with the high noise crushed into the deep. Behind the swells, and under the depths is a longing, or a lack thereof. It’s passing by, no different than it was years before.  

credits

Recorded in 2007 and 2008. 
All music, photos, and titles by Will Long and Danielle Baquet.
Originally released as a limited edition CDR on Slow Flow Rec in 2008

Mastered by Lawrence English at Negative Space