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SHEFFIELD, COLIN ANDREW - Don't ever let me know

Format: LP Label & Cat.Number: Auf Abwegen aatp84 Release Year: 2023 Note: sounds from the city of EL PASO (TX) where Sheffield and his father were born, build the (sample) basis for this stunning, mostly abstract sounding LP: *A soundscape of a city, abstract it is, that feels like a sonic journey through the city, as seen through a mildly distorted lens. Sheffield applies collage-like techniques, and to stay with the analogy of the city, a hard cut is like turning a corner; the scenery might change completely. Dark at times, intense always..* - lim. 200 copies, spot tone print Price (incl. 19% VAT): €20.00 More Info Don't Ever Let Me Know is Sheffield's first solo release since 2018's Repair Me Now (Glistening Examples) and is a work in a similar mode to that album in that it comprises two lengthy pieces of multiple movements and moods. For this new work, and as a kind of ode to his late father, Sheffield has employed samples entirely taken from (or inspired by) the city in which both men were born. In this way, the sounds have been utilized as a kind of shorthand for the specific subjects at hand. The two audio assemblages, meanwhile, mirror the ways in which loss and memory are processed - with both melancholy and wonder in equal measure: at once beautiful and confounding. The audio has been mastered for vinyl by James Plotkin. The LP comes in a lovely jacket featuring photography by the late Allen W. Sheffield and extensive spot gloss printing. https://aufabwegen.bandcamp.com/album/dont-ever-let-me-know "Don't Ever Let Me Know" comprises two lengthy pieces of multiple movements and moods. As a kind of ode to his late father, Sheffield has employed samples entirely taken from (or inspired by) El Paso, the city in which both men were born. The two audio assemblages mirror the ways in which loss and memory are processed - with both melancholy and wonder in equal measure: at once beautiful and confounding, nostalgic and emotional. "The first half of the LP consists of loops of dissolving music, open resonate spaces, and bizarrely treated frequencies. Density builds and there is a sense of speed throughout, as he swaps out musical loops for harsher, digital sounds. There is definitely pre-recorded music used as some of the source material, but Sheffield sculpts it into something entirely different. The other side is more polarized in sound, blending lush, melodic layers and buzz saw-like noise passages... There is a distinct combination of quieter, reflective sections and harsher swells, with his careful manipulation of delays and feedback bringing things just to the point of chaos but never crossing that threshold." (Brainwashed). Mastered by James Plotkin. Ltd x 200 copies in a spot-varnish sleeve with photography by the late Allen W. Sheffield. "In his work, Sheffield uses a lot of samples from his extensive record/CD/tape collection; work that you can describe as either turntablism or plunderphonics, but the results are usually a bit different, more ambient in approach than an ironic comment on social events, the more common approach in that world. On his new record, he does something different. He works with samples from the city where he was born, El Paso, Texas. His late father was also born in this city, so it's an ode to that city and his father, a work of loss and contemplation, the thing we all do the older we get. Yet, it is also known that if I hadn't known this, I would have never garnered from the music. As such, the music stays on a very abstract level. Within these forty minutes, I never had the idea I was listening to samples from a city. Granted, I have not been to El Paso, but I assume it is a city; it sounds like one. In his usual approach to sound manipulation, Sheffield twists and turns the original material and cooks up a delicate ambient-inspired soundtrack of granular synthesis working overtime. He's not interested in playing the long-form, sustaining drone card, but instead is on that crossroad of granulating sounds, pitching up and down, creating a constant shift in the music that, superficially, would mean this is not ambient at all, but, rather oddly, it works out that way. A soundscape of a city, abstract it is, that feels like a sonic journey through the city, as seen through a mildly distorted lens. Sheffield applies collage-like techniques, and to stay with the analogy of the city, a hard cut is like turning a corner; the scenery might change completely. Dark at times, intense always, relaxing sometimes and beautiful throughout." [FdW/Vital Weekly]