impact
is a concept album based around a simple approach: work around peripheral sounds and extended techniques, extract the most unusual and unheard from my instrument using close miking techniques.
after many years of dedicating all my attention to the saxophone, i decided to revisit some of the techniques i used when playing prepared electric guitar, this time using the strict limitation of dry acoustic guitar. the architecture of the instrument is altered using props strategically placed along the strings. the instrument sounds radically different, and placing it flat on the ground makes the physical relationship completely new.
turned percussive, harmonic contents augmented, resonance shifted, the guitar sound is barely recognisable. the conventional effects and textures are abstracted and this allows for a new range of soundscapes and dynamics. the mike positioning deliberately picks up every sound, every detail in a raw and intimate way that makes this recording unforgiving and intensely present.
in a similar way, the soprano saxophone is explored from the inside and exploded with precise positioning of mikes in order to concentrate on fragments of sounds usually unheard. for the whole of this recording, not a single note is played, nor the instrument approached in a traditional way. instead, i focus on the tiny percussive sound of keys and bursts of air around the body of the saxophone. the harmonic contents is purely structural, and modulates in microvariations according to the air flow.
another type of sound here is drawing harmonics hidden in the white noise of full blow air through the saxophone tube. the sax is mostly played without mouthpiece.
in both instances, the close miking technique takes you inside the instrument, and the spatial arrangement expands the physicality of the instruments beyond our experience of their sound, into the acousmatic listening. i strongly recommend using headphones for the full spectral and spatial experience.
the composition is full of details and sonic events carefully placed, so that the listening experience is fully immersive, very physical and quite intense at times.
as expressed above, this piece is raw and unforgiving. i made a deliberate aesthetic choice to present known instruments in a very challenging way, highlighting sounds which are mostly never heard. to this, i added some field recordings that augment the already rich palette of textures and gestures. the very tactile and sensual quality of field recordings add another dimension of sonic experience. and yet, here again, our sense of comfort is thwarted by altering recognisable natural sounds through the use of digital processing, positioning and perspective.
while in the process of making this album, i came across a documentary film about the horrors of war in the current form of colonialism. this raw and deeply upsetting revelation somehow connected to the close affect and impact i was looking for in the sounds i was creating. so i decided to add some of the devastating accounts and interviews from the film in the form of samples.
this work was made in 2011. for years i focused on being creative and producing a large amount of compositions and recordings. i am now in the process of making public some of these. so i am very pleased that the net label pan y rosas has kindly agreed to publish this one.
you can hear and download the full album from pan y rosas:
http://www.panyrosasdiscos.net/pyr217-herve-perez-impact/
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