MATHIEU, STEPHAN — The Sad Mac

"Stephan Mathieu has worked worldwide as an improvising drummer, notably with German group Stol and Butch Morris' conduction ensembles. In addition to releasing works under his own name on numerous labels worldwide, he has also released works under the moniker Full Swing. His recent work has been closely associated with the digital processing of acoustic events - indeed he has been described as the Caspar David Friedrich of digital music - 'The Sad Mac', however, sees him developing his approach of painting wide digital landscapes with sound and supplementing it with a range of processes both ancient and modern. Mathieu has worked as a guest lecturer at the Bauhaus University, Weimar; The Royal Academy of Art in Gothenburg; the Merz Akademy, Stuttgart; and currently teaches digital arts and conception at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Saarbr?ken, Germany. The Sad Mac' follows 'Wurmloch Variationen' [Ritornell, 2000], 'frequencyLib' [Ritornell, 2001] and 'Full Swing Edits' [Orthlorng Musork, 2000-2002]. All received widespread critical acclaim with 'frequencyLib',in particular, being shortlisted in The Wire's '2001 Rewind List' as one of the best electronica CDs of 2001. 'The Sad Mac' signals a subtle shift in direction for Mathieu, with his considerable digital skills now supplemented with recordings of remarkable gentleness, careful edits and even a re-recording onto wax cylinder of 'Tinfoil Star (Recording Angles)' utilising a 1909 Edison 'Fireside' phonograph. The latter paradoxically encompasses all the 'requirements' of a contemporary piece of 'laptop music' with noise, crackle, aspects of recordings, glitch and dub. The result is a classic album featuring eight substantial pieces with introduction, interludes, coda and outro. Warm swells of sound are gathered throughout - gently maintained, they drift as if floating on lazy currents of air before dying periodically, softly and slowly. A pump organ plays a melancholy motor's endless drone underpinning vocal fragments in shrouded Italian. Gusts of melody drenched in sunlight sparkle as they smoulder like the warm embers of a late night." [label info]