Throat by Throat

Throat is an examination of using site-specific and unusual acoustic environments as a catalyst for compositional expression as well as a tool to transform and transcend the timbral and aesthetic qualities associated with the recorder as an instrument. The 5 pieces on the record are written for, and recorded in, the following spaces:

1) Brønshøj Vandtårn: the massive cathedral-like water tower with approximately 15 seconds of reverb is shrouded in modal harmony and airy organ like timbres. Central to this composition is the use of textural, timbral and spatial development as a way to introduce variation in the rhythmically simple and meditative musical material. In other words the development of the piece is produced by contrasting:

- The intimate and fragile with the distant and diffused.
- The static and the simple with the dramatic and the complex.
- The noisy and airy with the somewhat sinusodial timbral possibilities of the recorder.

This piece has been recorded in Brønshøj in the massive water tower managed by Kulturhuset Pilegaarden.

2) Anechoic Chamber: extremely fast, staccato, agressive and dense rhythmic layers breaks the silence in the room without any reverberation. This musical expression is a sort of sonification of the extreme amount of sharp and intense sound-absorping spikes that penetrate the space from every direction. The gridlike, agressive and enclosing qualities of the room is highlighted further by spatializing the music in a way which gives the listener the impression of being "attacked" from every direction.

This piece has been recorded in Lyngby in the Anechoic Chamber owned by the Technical University of Denmark.

3) Inside: the intimate and fragile is highlighted by recording the space inside the throat of the recorder player as well as the interplay between the recorder and the piano as a resonating object.

Inside was recorded in a grand piano located at the Danish National Academy of Music placed in Esbjerg.

4) Kastelsmøllen: mechanical, metallic and electronic timbres are contrasted with the hollow and wooden sound that characterises the recorder as an instrument and kastelsmøllen as a space.

Kastelsmøllen was recorded in a wooden windmill from 1847 located at Kastellet in Copenhagen.

5) Digital Spaces: reconfigures and transforms material from the four previous pieces in to one connected whole. Thus the piece is highlighting how digital technology and the act of recording is fragmenting, expanding and changing our perception of the connections between sound, physical environment and space.

BADP005 and FK55

released July 11, 2021

A collective label based in Copenhagen. New Danish heartfelt sounds.