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BARRETT, NATASHA - Peat + Polymer

Format: do-CD Label & Cat.Number: +3db Records +3db020 Release Year: 2014 Note: two full discs of new compositions by one of our favourite electro-acoustic / contemporary composers; POLYMER: "3CD compositions: dramas unfolding in fictional spaces re-mixed for stereo listening"; PEAT: "a series of audio experiences placing the listener inside the reality of an actual environment.."; incl. soundwalks/exposures from Oslo, Peru, Shanghai... free download of binaural headphone tracks enclosed, mastered for 3D listening on headphones only Price (incl. 19% VAT): €18.00 Warning: Currently we do not have this album in stock! More Info "Natasha Barrett is Norway's most prominent composer of electro-acoustic music, rewarded with numerous prizes and awards. Peat + Polymer is a double portrait of her artistic work, showcasing the connections and contradictions beetween synthetic and organic sound.Natasha Barrett is a British-Norwegian composer, performer and researcher of electroacoustic art music. Her output spans instrumental and electroacoustic composition through to sound-art, sound-architectural installations and interactive projects. Barrett completed her Master's Degree at the University of Birmingham, moving on to her Doctoral degree in composition at City University in London in 1998.ÊIn addition to collaborating with performers, she often involves experimental designers and scientists in her work. Her compositional aesthetics are derived from acousmatic issues focusing on the aural perception of detail, hidden sounds, structure and potential meaning. The composition and manipulation of space is a central element in much of this work." [label info] plus3db.net "Usually releases by +3dB Records from Norway deal with the more improvised end of music (as we will see), but the release by Natasha Barrett is something different. Superficially one could think there is something improvised in these pieces, the way voices are used or percussion, but upon a closer study one realizes this is all the work of musique concrete. Barrett also had releases on Empreintes Digitales, Aurora, and other more highbrow electronic music labels, some of these being DVD-audio and SACD. This double CD shows two aspects of her work: the pieces on the 'Polymer' disc are '3D compositions: dramas unfolding in fictional spaces re-mixed for stereo listening', while 'Peat', 'collects a series of audio experiences, placing the listener inside the reality of an actual environment'. The pieces on 'Polymer' are indeed quite dramatic at times, blending instrumental music, voices and sound from various processed sources together. This makes up quite imaginative music, full of life, changes taking place all the time and moving from one imaginary picture to another. It's perhaps music that one knows from the academic world, and which is not always received favorable here but in this case it works rather well. The pieces on 'Peat' seem to deal with field recordings (Oslo, Lima and Shanghai) which come largely unprocessed it seems, but for all I know there might also be some kind of intervention from Barrett, either processing sounds or simply creating a sound collage of it with abrupt changes. Whatever the case might be, it sounds quite fascinating, especially the 'Oslo Sound Space Transport System: Route no. 1', which seems to have more intervention than the other pieces. But maybe this was picked up with more microphones and there is some odd spacing going on here. It gives you the impression to be inside a hollow, tube like space and sounds drop in and out all the time. Following the pieces found 'Polymer' this opening piece of 'Peat' forms an excellent, long bridge from one CD to the other, with more field recording/documentation pieces." [FdW/Vital Weekly]