Contemporary Limits

Changes in culture, particularly those brought about by changes in technology, alter the ways in which reality may be perceived.

While opportunities arise for artistic expression using materials previously considered outside the parameters of "art", there may also be a disconnect between immediate awareness of information and historical knowledge.

That which is archaic, whether of the world of technology or of ideas, is not necessarily obsolete.

Variation and Unpredictability

Shifting currents in a stream, variations in the geometric shapes of flocks of birds in flight, changing weather conditions, cloud formations undergoing metamorphosis: these are patterns that are perceptible and expected but cannot be foreseen. 

Similarly, auditory phenomena encountered while in transit through various environments and settings may be conspicuous as having these qualities, if one but takes the opportunity to listen.

Such inconstant elements are among the distinguishing features of musical arrangements in the transformation ambient mode.  Along with the predominance of tones and textures, elusive turns and displacements in variable combinations of patterns contribute to the peculiar and perceptually striking nature of these works.

Fire, Warmth, Light

Music may impose itself upon the listener, draw the listener in, or exist as a part of the listening environment, with the potential to be engaged in varying degrees by the listener.

Times, settings, and temperaments of artist and audience form the listening experience as well as the sounds themselves, each aspect contributing to the total effect of a performance or recording. 

The responsibility of the artist to the listener, however, is the obligation of the artist to the art.

Gesture, Word, Tone

Meaning is conveyed through signs, signals and symbols.   Combined, they may communicate with continually increasing subtlety and complexity.

Archetypal meanings deeply rooted in the human psyche are associated with sounds. Perceptions prehistoric cultures associated with sounds-- bright and sharp, deep, ethereal, portentous or ominous, clashing, roaring, divinely or mystically strange-- resonate in modern consciousness.

As poetry communicates on many levels of meaning at once, so the symphonic tone poem suggests myriad levels of musical and emotional meaning, and that is the simple intent of my work with transformation ambient and sketch compositions in an electronic setting as well.

Vibration and Illumination

A sense of equilibrium in an artistic expression reflects a balance between opposing forces.

It is a condition uniting diverse and unexpected connections.  Spontaneity and restraint, for example, produce outcomes in combination unlike those they produce alone.  Light and shadow, density and sparseness, and contrasting tones and textures act in juxtaposition to create a unity of effect, whether serene or surreal, sensual or cerebral, vague, clear, or otherwise discernible.

Impressions of this nature represent a different order of seeing and listening, one that is simple yet not predictable, nor dulled by the frenetic and the mundane, but free of limits and barriers to a wider range of aesthetic experience.

Vision and Force, Being and Expression

Artists think for themselves. 

To the work alone, in idea and act, is the will surrendered.

Meaning Among Motifs

Assemblages of sensations.

Fragments of agreeable conversation. Icicles dripping, salt air, crackling firelight, clouds rushing past a full moon.  Fragrance of turned earth, echo of subway tunnel, oily textured lemon wedge, flight and calls of geese, beads of rain on iron rails. 

Sounds to call these to mind, in patterns that let them dance.

Tone Language

Expression manifests and communicates through various mediums, the processes of each informing and shaping the expression in unique ways.

Personal and subjective expressions, that is to say, those gestures reserved for close and informal relationships, contrast sharply with expressions of public opinion of a political or cultural nature, and neither bears any resemblance to impersonal expressions of art as representations of reality.

Mediums of expression include the visual and plastic arts, dance and performance arts, speech, poetry, the written word, and musical forms, established and unorthodox.

Tone in sound and tone of human voice communicate in the same ways, and the language of tone itself embodies meaning beyond the limits of spoken language.  This is expression of force and its application in sound art, as initiated through tone and its combinations in texture, regardless of manner, technique, or the means by which it is produced.

Relation, Manner, Formation

To be cognizant of the range of sounds in environments large and small demands the development of conscious effort.

With concentration, near-infinite admixtures of tones and timbres, patterns and lines appear to emerge, as it were, from formless shadows of sound.  Yet these dense textures and swirling aural tapestries are dashed into a fog of fragments and withdraw back into the psychic distance at the least distraction, however mild, that asserts itself fully into our consciousness.

Still, it is an experience of an immense pleasure, and, having known it, much to be desired again.

Musical works, or fabrications of sound design if you prefer, that evoke atmospheres of this nature are the objects of my methods and strategies of composition and recording.

Unrestricted Listening

Sound and emotion are inseparable, but the art of sound extends beyond simple association with mood.

Musical atmospheres may be designed with the goal of directing the listener's attention and perceptions outside the range of mundane thought and activity.  This is directly opposed to musical compositions conducive to escapist fantasy; the aim is that of bringing about a more creative and autonomous state of mind through engagement with listening experiences that are aesthetically pleasing, yet out of the ordinary. 

I desire music that is liberating, in an emotional, intellectual, and spiritual sense.

Imagery in Sound

Listen at any time and place to hear myriad events produce varied sounds in continuous succession.

These are sounds in an original state, so to speak, taking form without being intentionally given form in terms of controlled musical elements, like rhythm, melody, meter, beat, and so forth.  Certain sounds will be human in origin-- automobile engines, for instance, or laundry flapping on a clothesline in the wind.  Other sounds will be, like the wind or rain, primordial in nature.

The creation of a piece made for aesthetic listening, as if the sounds were happening in such manner, need not relinquish all control to chance, or be contrived as representing random, disconnected noises.  Manipulation of tones, patterns, contrasting sounds and textures may lead to compositions that fill the atmosphere and the ear with uniquely enjoyable sounds while allowing the mind to wander freely, unburdened by music that demands all one's attention. 

Synthetic, Organic, Personal

Environments most often encountered are combinations of natural and artificial elements.

A child puts an ear to the seashell and listens for the ocean.  Listening, interpreting, aware of the objects in the room, the people in the house, the sounds of traffic and echoes of windows and walls. 

The sea is not making the sounds inside the shell, but the sounds are real, and not the sounds of the everyday world of the child.  The room becomes strange, and deep and distant within the shell is a roar that is the ocean and is not the ocean.

This aural impression lingers for a while, and during this time the light of reality is subtly changed.

Stylized Realities

Art comes into being in its final forms by virtue of the efforts of the artist, and these labors include applications of abstract ideas as well as choices and actions regarding manipulation of media. 

Theories multiply as artists and composers investigate and analyze, experiment and evaluate. Ideas behind successful experiments are incorporated into works, and failures set aside, but not forgotten in refining the creative process. 

Ideas, concepts, and theories abound, but the artist in search of unique expression weighs, balances, measures, tests, and synthesizes these to suit intended outcomes.  The work embodies the elements the artist designs and produces the total effect the artist envisions, and at times inspires new concepts and applications as a consequence. 

From the perspective that sound is a medium for producing artistic works, it follows that theoretical constructs are of value as technical and aesthetic principles in the execution of such works.  A clear and critical view of connections that may be explored in aleatoric, generative, and emergent music, for example, provides insight into ways and means of originating cogent ideas and methods for developing them as well as new designs in sound. 

The final goal of these fundamental ideas and processes, as interesting as they may be, is a finished work of art in sound that is pleasing to the listener and interesting in and of itself.

Transformation Ambient

When styles diverge in popular music and coalesce into new forms that demonstrate a pronounced difference from previous styles, these forms are identified by new names to denote their originality. 

When experimental music follows suit, the same thing is done to distinguish one mode of sound and composition from another.  Well-known examples are ambient and generative music as developed by Brian Eno, as well as the widely diverse stylings of popular electronic music termed electronica during the formative phases of digital music culture.

In speaking of transformation ambient as the result of various processes utilized in its creation, I am identifying the asymmetrical form of arranging combinations of tones in temporal and spatial relationships I employ to design sound compositions, the works produced in this manner, and the concept behind the music.

This theory proposes that by dispersing as well as ordering tones and phrases, the composition provides the listener an experience of ambient music that reflects naturally occurring and perceived environmental stimuli, thus disengaging anticipatory expectations and responses --the "following" of the progress of the "tune"-- associated with music generally. 

The result is transformation, altering ideas and methods related to composition, and, in turn, processes of listening as well.

Unseen Worlds

 Transient emotion, distraction, and diversion bury perception. 

Caught up in the events of the day, carried along in a flood of  thoughts and activities, how effortless it is to lose contact with the wider, deeper awareness human consciousness engenders.

To certain artists and listeners, music not simply a medium for self-expression and diversion, but a gateway to penetrating insight, to a more intense and profound state of being.

It is a vision to be shared with all who can experience it.

Waves Through Distances

Boulevard, open field, highway.

Taxi, airports, countryside.  Street corner, city square, restaurant.  Rooms and porticoes, stairwells and metro trains.  Murmur of conversations, shouts of children, calls of birds and animal cries.  Engines, droning, purring, roaring, rumbling.

Patterns with no connections, in processes connecting.  Footsteps, laughter, wind and rainfall; movement, traffic, heartbeats, chimes; rustle, aura, crowd, procession, songs, silences, voices and noises, filling the corridors of memory and perception, colored by emotion, idea and the phenomena of existence.

Sketches of such impressions as these, utilizing the recording studio as an instrument of the imagination, seeking aesthetic equilibrium between idea and act along an axis of sounds.

On the Art of Sound

Everywhere percussion, rhythm, and melodic pattern typify and define-- I would say limit-- perception of music.

Acclimated to predominate stylistic norms, one may find it difficult to appreciate an art of sound that places no emphasis upon such things as chord progressions, back beat, or arpeggiation.

Yet elements such as these are imposed upon sounds to give them structures of various kinds.  They combine to serve as "framing devices" for musical styles, and ultimately, in general terms, for music itself.

This is like being aware of no more than that the sky is blue in the daytime and black at night.

Having worked as an independent songwriter, arranger, and producer, surrounded by these aspects of music for decades, it became incumbent upon me to move beyond musical ideas I no longer found interesting.  Through taking advantage of the freedom to do so, I remain engaged in experimentation, analysis, application of independent theory, and the production of new works.

These works, like all the arts, exist to illuminate their surroundings.

Coalesce, Disperse, Recombine

Tones are the essential elements. 

Riven from repetitive sequences of standard rhythms, beats, and predictable melodies, the dynamic interplay of tones is noticeably altered. 

The listener will still perceive pattern, duration, volume, pitch, timbre (or voice) and the usual qualities associated with musical forms, including compositional textures and apparent movement over time; yet freed from the confines of dominant percussion and insistent, regular meter, these elements reveal their intrinsic beauty.

Auditory impressions which might be described in terms of color, temperature, emotion, and depth of aural field are evident in these tonal combinations as well. 

Released from common expectations and restrictions, sound may be directed to fulfill extraordinary visions.

Eccentricities

Common habits of thought yield general failures of perception, ordinary expectations, banal expression, mediocre understanding, absurd criticism, and a broad spectrum of social and cultural problems.

Undo the causes and alter the outcomes.  To awaken is a personal choice.

Mine is the business of observing and engaging the world through the faculties of reason and will, awareness and action, communication and consciousness.  These things are within an artist's purview; extraneous to these are matters independent by nature and outside my influence.

But art extends this reach.

Extension

Art inspires reaction, response, interaction-- in short, communication.

Media, politics, entertainment, propaganda, the sensational and the superficial will go to, and follow, the crowd.

It is the individual who seeks out and goes to art, and it is art that will communicate directly, without guile or condescension, to the individual.

Above, Within, Outside, Below

Sounds directed beyond the narrow range of waking perception and linear thought.

Suggestion of events taking place past one's line of sight.  Partial recurrence of a lucid moment in a dream, while engaged in mundane activity.  Impression of sound and image out of far distant past.  Contemplation of night sky, ocean, movement of migrating flocks of birds.  Gossamer in autumn air.  Awareness of passing an hour along city avenues without seeing another living person.  Realization of change in the atmosphere, alteration of light, intensity of emotion.

Such are mere hints of things that may pass through a listener's stream of consciousness while engaged with nonlinear sound designs.  These are musical transformations created to bring about, enhance, and sustain a free-flowing state of mind.

Sketching

Convert visual impressions to sounds informed by experience, auditory memory and spatial relationships.  The outcome is a record of an imaginary setting.

This is one manner of combining and ordering elements in ways to create a total effect. 

Indeterminate in form, the sketch develops into a recognizable emotional landscape, unfolding in the surrounding environment and in the mind of the listener.

It is a simple aesthetic, designed to evoke and sustain artistically pleasurable atmospheres while remaining unobtrusive yet stimulating.  It also offers a different approach to listening and responding to a different style of sound, one having little resemblance to typical formulaic music.

Aesthetic Distortion

It may be an apocryphal statement, but I have heard it said more than once that Dr. Bob Moog believed that the electronic synthesizer should not sound like any other instrument.  Recently one of Dr. Moog's former students confirmed to me that this was true.

Synthetic sounds have unique qualities. They may create entirely novel combinations of tone, or reproduce certain obvious characteristics of specific instruments. In both cases these sounds can be manipulated to produce effects that reach the ear in striking ways.

The results may sound merely imitative, an echo of aspects of familiar musical works, or they may combine in more interesting synthetic forms, as Dr. Moog conceived them, to move in diverse or strange directions.

A sound that seems ancient and modern at once is particularly appealing to me, especially when it moves through time organically and unpredictably, and I often seek to attain it when organizing compositions.  The digital studio and synthesizer make a potent combination in bringing such sounds to life through innumerable means that were not possible mere decades ago.

It is no longer possible for me to think of music as being limited to particular forms, but rather as auditory images evolving in other ways altogether.

Method, Manner, Motion

Predictability may be more distracting than the apparently random or chaotic.

The purposes of customary and routine actions are for the most part desirable and necessary, organization being of value in terms of aims and intentions.  It is the loss of dynamic engagement with any activity that becomes enervating.

In the arts especially, it is the dullness of repetitive thinking that dims the imagination.

Perceptual and intellectual limits are not necessarily abhorrent in themselves, provided they are understood as obstacles to be overcome, and actions are taken accordingly.

That which would be filled must also be made empty.

Appearances II

Limited expectations and cultural conditioning reinforce each other.

Collective approval permits acceptance of the previously rejected.  What was formerly strange and unknown gains admittance, then common currency, often as the result of celebrity promotion or  commercial advertising campaigns. 

Those who think for themselves are not burdened by this sort of timidity, seeing and hearing what others do not, and being unconcerned with the vicissitudes of public tastes.  This is by no means a small and elite group, and often has greater influence on cultural attitudes than those with a vested interest in manipulating "consumer" perceptions.

The appeal of art is nowhere lost, regardless, but only obscured for a time. 

Soundwork and Process (Philosophy of Composition)

Combine elements and design emerges.

Manipulation of elements alters design.  (Auditory:  sound, tone, pattern, apparent movement.)

Aesthetic choice of elements conveys reason, sensibility, emotion.

Development of design reflects change over time.

Context is external in atmosphere and setting, internal in terms of listening and state of mind.

Sustain.

Curious, if True

There is a reticence to consider the possibility that having music "stuck in your head" might impair thinking or perception.  The German word for this phenomenon is ohrwurm, meaning "earworm".

The idea that such a thing as involuntary sound imagery could interfere with consciousness is problematic, as music is so prevalent in daily life.  Nevertheless, it is a fact that recorded music has existed for less than two hundred years, and has never been as accessable and ubiquitous at any previous time in human history.

In a waiting room recently I could hear the music a young girl was listening to on an iPod or mp3 player.  I was unfamiliar with the songs, but, objectively, they were interesting for what they were, being complex lyrically, it seemed, though instrumentally generic and predictable in terms of arrangement and production. 

Then I realized she was singing along with every song, so quietly her vocals blended perfectly with the low volume of the music, flawlessly in tune and, in fact, decorously, given the setting.  It was a rather long wait, so this continued for quite some time, exactly as described, through perhaps five or six songs.

When she stopped and glanced around the room, I complimented her on her voice.  I asked if she was "a singer".  She was not, but was pleased with the compliment.  "When you're not listening," I asked, "Do you hear the songs in your head?"

"All the time," she said.  "Always."

I did not ask if she could "make them go away".

Expansive Obscurity

Popular culture is more than immersion in entertainment and celebrity.  It is more than a vehicle for the communication of social and political viewpoints, more than a combination of business and industry.

 Pop culture is itself an art medium.  While the entertainer by necessity gives the audience what it wants, the artist expresses a vision.  In the context of mass media, the vision of the artist may gain common currency beyond the demand for entertainment.

For the most part this is a transient and superficial phenomena and retains public interest for a short while until being replaced by another, but from time to time there appears a work or body of work that alters the cultural perspective, becomes influential in diverse ways, and transcends the scenario of the "overnight sensation".

Ambient music in its numerous forms, while remaining relatively obscure over time in popular terms, has nonetheless changed the sound of the cultural landscape, and its potential to continue to do so appears unlimited.

Music and Sensibility

To consider the extent to which media is fused and blended with consciousness gives one pause.

Certain connections suggest themselves:  meaning may be clarified or confused.  Choices may be consciously made, or be no more than the result of having come to no alternative, emotion having superseded the faculty of reason-- the latter neither understood, developed, or experienced. 

Unselfconsciousness is no substitute for self- awareness.

Vicarious experience of reality does not suffice to replace human knowledge, any more than political ideology is a substitute for wisdom.  Distinctions are either made between the general and the specific, or they are not; the differences between a vine and a poisonous vine, as between actions taken according to intent or impulse, are significant. 

Love for the object of one's desire is not equal to love for another human being.

Music to enhance a contemplative atmosphere and state of mind can, beyond evoking aesthetic beauty and pleasure, contribute to creative and intuitive reasoning, lucidity of perception, and more. 

This is the raison d'etre of my work.

Art, Idea and Act

What can be conceived artistically can be assessed and developed according to its virtues.

Clearly, there are challenges to be overcome in bringing into being works that reflect truly the vision of the artist's imagination.  These will be numerous, and vary in degrees of difficulty.

The greater the challenge, the more patience proves essential.  There must be resources with which to work, there must be time to gain knowledge, skills, critical insight; these must be applied with an eye to risk, failure, and gain, and the will to accept results and modify approaches.

Acceptance of the idea of art as the work of a lifetime is an existential commitment.

To those who make that choice, and to those that support them, godspeed the new year's journey.

Creative Will

The exercise of will in artistic creation bears little resemblance to that of assertion of personal control over everyday events.

The expenditure of will in daily life is wasted on things beyond our control, unlike that focused upon artistic endeavors.  The latter evolve according to the artist's intent and efforts; the former will encompass much over which control is impossible, though this is not to say that none of these are within the scope of responsible influence.  Various things like health and reputation may be enhanced to some extent by effective choices and actions, as may gain and loss generally, but limits on art and creativity are few in comparison.

Art responds to individual will and temperament and is formed into a representation of reality.  Reality itself will not be compelled to be other than it is, a fact to be considered when contemplating the idea of life as art.

Forces of Art, and History

Music, like painting and the other arts generally, offers the artist a great deal of control over media.

Some mistake artistic control for refinement, but this is not always so.  To view Leonardo's Lady with an Ermine or a Van Gogh self-portrait elevates consciousness, though the artists' methods are completely dissimilar and at variance with each other in terms of control of execution.

The portrayals in stone and illustrations of the anonymous heroes of the Soviet era in the state-approved mode of "socialist realism" offer another view.  Demonstrating a subjection of art and artist to total control, these works reflect the stylized conformity of a vision of reality experienced through prison bars.  Affronts to the spirit, the productions represent absolute control at the expense of all else, and burden consciousness with oppressive implication.

Control of media, in any instance, suggests a force of will, in that the final work is a manifestation of the intent of the artist-- but it is through free expression that the arts, and musical arts particularly, are realized most fully and sustain their virtues over time.

***     ***

Pravomoci umění a historie

Hudba, jako je malování a další umění obecně, nabízí autor velkou kontrolu nad médii

Nějakou chybu, uměleckou kontrolu pro zušlechťování, ale to není vždy tak. Chcete-li zobrazit Leonardo Dáma s hranostajem, nebo Van Gogh autoportrét zvyšuje vědomí, i když metody umělců jsou zcela odlišné a v rozporu s ostatními, pokud jde o kontrolu provádění.

Zobrazení v kameni a ilustrací anonymní hrdiny sovětské éry ve státem uznaný způsob "socialistický realismus" nabízí jiný pohled. Prokázání podrobení umění a umělce úplnou kontrolu, tato díla odrážejí stylizované souladu vize reality zkušených přes vězeňské mříže. Urazí duchu, produkce představují absolutní kontrolu na úkor všeho ostatního, a zátěž vědomí tíživé důsledky.

Kontrolu nad médii, v každém případě naznačuje, silou vůle, v tom, že konečné dílo je projevem záměru autora - ale to je přes svobodu projevu, že umění a hudební umění, zvláště, jsou realizovány většinou v plném rozsahu a udržet jejich ctnosti v průběhu času.

Illuminations and Shadows of Sounds

A synthesis of sound sources and artistic perspectives is brought to bear within a selected setting:  it is an effusion of tones, colors, textures and movements.

We do not listen for one sound or another beginning and ending.  They merge and separate and reform in ways more common to weather patterns or tidal movements than to music.  Orientation in space appears to undergo changes, and time is perceived differently, or not at all.

This atmosphere is of the environment, and of the mind.

On Exceeding Parameters

Asymmetrical juxtapositions of varied sounds and their movements through time produce different musical effects than those dependent upon combinations of sounds in regular, recurring patterns and forms.

In standard musical frameworks notes and patterns are repeated with only slight variations-- if any-- as heard in the common combinations of verses, choruses, and instrumental breaks typical to pop/rock songs.  It is possible to become so accustomed to styles grounded in beat, rhythm, and melody these elements lose their force and become trite, boring, predictable, unlistenable.

To free tones, notes and instrumental lines from these paradigms and scatter them among each other in diverse movements disengages the ear from following and anticipating the cadence and action of the music and releases consciousness from the dominance of the sound.

Being fully absorbed in music is one way of listening, but it is not the only way, or even the most desirable of ways. 

This is a perspective of ambient music generally, and a starting point from which Black Mountain School compositions and recordings proceed toward extending the established capabilities and limits of the genre.

A Sense of Meaning, and of Mystery

Impressions are interpreted in myriad ways.

When given expression and form, these impressions may be conveyed according to various artistic conventions, approximated subjectively, reproduced with emphasis on particular content, exaggerated for certain effects, and otherwise brought into being for any reason or as the result of any impulse whatsoever.  Order may be brought to chaos, or the reverse may be so.

The result is a generation of force.  In view of art and ideas, the extent of that force can be known in terms of history, even predicted accordingly, but upon leaving the artist's hands it belongs to an unknown future.

Ancestral Shadows

Among the most imaginative of Christmas traditions in many places is the telling of ghost stories. 

Among the finest ghostly tales in the English language are those of M. R. James and Russell Kirk, and these are enthusiastically recommended to the reader.

At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.

~William Shakespeare


 

Expression, Impression

Common to musical forms is a sense of the emotional.

This sense may be communicated in such a way as to induce a cathartic release of inner tension or energy.  It may invite empathy with the singer, songwriter and performer, or provide a vicarious sense of romantic adventure.  It may offer an uplifting religious or spiritual state of being, or a frisson of intense excitement.  Certainly any emotional condition, from joy to sadness, to ecstasy, to fear, may be enhanced by music and sound. 

This effect of reinforcing or effecting changes in listeners' emotions is part of the appeal of every musical genre and style of recording and performance.

It is not outside the realm of possibility that, beyond the emotions, consciousness itself might be elevated in conjunction with the experience of a form of music-- or non-music-- as yet to be fully realized.

On Esoterica

Certain musical forms are so highly specialized as to raise the question as to whether it is the music or the rarefied knowledge related to the arcana of the style that is esteemed. 

Such are the ways of artifice and contrivance, but in any case it is the listener who makes the judgement, and very few listeners care more for exclusionary, byzantine aesthetics than trust their own ears-- nor should they.

A critical listener with well-rounded tastes is capable of appreciating music of all types, and of listening accordingly in the various ways that offer the greatest enjoyment.  The pleasure of music is self-evident, and, the difficulties of composition and performance notwithstanding, it is a chief source of satisfaction to the musical artist to convey that shared sense of enjoyment to the listener.

Waves Through Time

Sounds as they occur naturally make no demands on the listener, but to listen is to be rewarded.

Original ambient music theories emphasize the idea that atmospheric music can be as interesting and stimulating as it is unobtrusive.  Such a creative goal can be achieved in any number of ways, and through simplicity or complexity.  As there is no specific or preferred method for developing works of this nature, there are as many variations in style as there are artists, and experimentation in developing compositions and recordings is the norm.

From an artist's point of view, this is the magic of the work; for the listener, it is an artwork in sound unlike any other, and a complement to the journey of the day.

Flowing Formlessness

Growth and decline are fundamentals of nature.  Emptiness is ever filled, and ever emptied. 

Sound designs that would express the phenomena of environmental changes and movements among various settings, when compared to musical compositions in standard forms, are of an altogether different order. 

The former are fabricated in ways that suggest the manner in which a listener might perceive sounds in various times and places in the absence of rhythm, percussion, melody, and so forth.

To call these forms "sketch" or "transformation ambient" for convenience is to distinguish them as being removed from musical forms or moving in  non-musical directions, albeit to aesthetically pleasurable ends and for the creative purposes of the listener, whether those purposes are to be immersed in the music, in thought, or in activity such as reading, writing, painting, or conversation.

Still, quiet waters may capture both sun and moon.

Pop II

Music is shared context.  It is public and personal. Artist, art, audience, and individual intersect.

Styles seemingly linked inexorably to subcultural phenomena become universally recognized, commercially co-opted and assimilated into mainstream culture.  In time, that which began as extravagantly original becomes commonplace, is reasserted and renewed for a period, and is finally replaced by a different perspective, as historical analysis of culture and social behaviors attests. 

As distinctions between the so-called fine arts and the popular arts have in large measure passed out of existence, and the broader public audience has greater access to a wider spectrum of entertainment and information, artists are more likely to follow a personal vision, rather than feel compelled to create according to the perceived tastes of specific "mass markets" that are no longer dominant forces. 

The position of the artist is more favorable in terms of widespread interest and acceptance as a result.

Celebrity culture, of course, is always its own context.

Concepts, Systems, Time

In conversation, certain points come up regularly.

Technically, these recordings are made in a digital production studio specifically designed according to technologies observed and utilized in commercial studios over a substantial course of time.  As such they reflect an evolution in recording from that of a two track setup used in recording James Brown singles in the early sixties through the digital revolution of the early nineteen nineties, at which point the capacity to organize and construct a personal studio system became possible.  The completion of this studio from that point, including research, experimentation, and ordering of processes continued for another fifteen years prior to the release of the first albums, Past Haunted Present by Ghost Radio Orchestra and Elevation by Black Mountain School.

The Black Mountain School recordings are conceived and completed on a system that is three years old and updated regularly, although some programs date to the mid-nineties and are used as a matter of personal preference, as are the restored JBL Decade speakers used (among others) in determining final mixes. 

This is not "random" music, though it is not "controlled" in the sense of being precisely defined in any form other than the finished recording.

To the best of my knowledge, while it is certain that the concepts of ambient music that influence these compositions are owed in every sense to the ideas and recordings of Brian Eno (who similarly acknowledges the music of Terry Riley as inspirational to his work), no artist produces efforts using the same particular methods and sound design strategies involved in these recordings, or has released albums that, as a result, either directly impact or are reflected in the peculiar ambient style of Black Mountain School.

Left for the consideration of the listener or reader are the virtues and follies of curiosity and patience in the pursuit of art.

Depictions, Directions

Before an audience sees or listens from a different perspective, the artist must do so.

The expansion of Cubist expression into architectural and sculptural forms, particularly in Prague during the early twentieth century, demonstrated an openness and awareness of the potential of the Modernist perspective among artists and designers, which, coupled with the historical Czech artistic perspective with its emphasis on complex subtlety in decorative forms, produced unique and extraordinary works of great beauty. 

In music, perspectives expand as well, cultures change, and new forms emerge to challenge artist and audience.

Fabrication and the Mind's Eye

Assemble various elements from any number of ideas and sources, craft and refine toward an indeterminate outcome ultimately given final form.

The artist's concept of the piece determines the framework and limits of the composition; the goals are dynamic developments in the process of creating a total effect.

Matters of individuality and originality will be apparent as aspects of the work, these being consequences of independent thought.

Before the authentic creative act, vision demands insight.

Contrasts

Form, function, depth, content, value, purpose, permanence.

To its listeners, ambient music is an open book, yet it is not a common musical phenomena in the sense that other genres are; that is to say, it is not introduced to young people as an essential element of musical culture, it does not saturate the airwaves, and one typically discovers or takes notice of it for oneself.

With time, it enters consciousness in the way of a new language, changing one's perception of sounds and imbuing them with myriad degrees of emotional significance, heightening awareness and stimulating the imagination.

This is no slight power.

Strange Pastorals

The pastoral ideal involves removing the complicated imagination of the urban dweller to the pleasant settings of rural life and an aesthetic of simplicity in the embrace of nature and human relationships.

This is utter escapist fantasy, of course, and has been so since Egyptian scribes wrote poetry in this style, assuming the narrative voices of unsophisticated, charming people to speak of romance and leisure in small villages along the Nile.  The shepherd in the fields represents the archetype of such a life: therefore the intimate association with the style.  "New Age" music often relates to pastoral settings and is meant to aid or induce relaxation, meditation, the alleviation of stress, and so on.

In contrast, the song "Grantchester Meadows" by Roger Waters reflects a more direct perception of such a landscape-- and soundscape-- as do numerous works by Pink Floyd from around the time it was written.  It is this directness that distinguishes works reflecting the ambient mode from the generic pastoral style, as listening to a track like "Dunwich Beach, Autumn, 1960" by Brian Eno aptly demonstrates.

Nor is this direct, impressionistic experience of aural atmospheres limited to environments outside the urban; cities and their architectural layouts offer as many interesting and aesthetically appealing settings as fields, mountains and deserts, and imaginary landscapes, though likely more abstract, are equally fitting for treatment in the ambient manner.

The links between a transformational ambient work or sketch-- and even a purely generative one-- to the pastoral are tenuous, but notable.  The contrast is not between the complex and the simple, or the urban and the rural, but between the perceptually mundane and the elevated.  And there is no shepherd, unless it is the composer who facilitates the journey.

To the extent that the Black Mountain School albums reflect such considerations and ideas, they are successful in concept and design for listening.

Sonic Field

Acuity of perception and thought rebels against obstruction and distraction.

Visual, auditory, and intellectual limits are not necessarily abhorrent in themselves, but clarity is desirable in any case as providing conditions in which such limits might be extended.  Obstruction and distraction, in cases of  blurred vision, loudness masking quiet sounds, or emotional tension overcoming thought, for example, frustrate the capacity to fully concentrate and focus on such things as complex situations and concepts. 

The design of ambient sounds to fill an environment for contemplative experience is more than a matter of volume and distance between sound source and listener; there must be tonality of a nature conducive to equable sensibility and contrasting movements, shades, tints, and textures of sound to create an atmosphere that is intrinsically interesting and has the potential to transform perceptions.

Listening Beyond the Present

Consider the time prior to the existence of recorded sound.

Music was originally reproduced by instrumental performance, conforming to the symbolic written language of musical notation, as interpreted by musical groups or soloists.  Variations reflecting the diverse interpretations characteristic of different orchestras and conductors were to be expected, and these are are indeed notable in modern recordings.

Recorded audio reproduces the same performance every time, providing the interested listener opportunities to increase familiarity with the work and pursue an awareness of various aspects of the musical recording in greater detail. 

On the other hand, the more limited the style or content of the work, the more saturated the listener becomes with continued listening, and, as with pop music in particular, the greater the disposability of the sound and style, even given listeners' emotional attachments to various popular genres over several generations.

The richer the content of a recording, the greater the rewards of repeated listening.

Altered Presences

Light and sound change perpetually and subtly over the course of time.

To a very young child, the immobile beam of a streetlight is starkly different from the daylight, or the lighting of home at night, because it is fixed, and not seemingly omnipresent.  The environment of the child's neighborhood is unchanged, but rendered mysterious by the depth of shadows and the stir of moths in the clear shafts of light that cast a pool of brightness down upon the sidewalk. 

Like moonlight on the ocean, there is a plainly visible source, but the the effects created in the atmosphere-- and the imagination--  are strikingly different from those of the day.

This is the appeal of ambient lighting, of pleasing sounds encountered unexpectedly in the natural world and in the human spheres of influence, and of the tone poem or stylized ambient music composition.  These things afford a change in atmosphere, a different perspective, and altered perceptions.

Fusion

Underground  minimalism.

These musical efforts have their origins in underground rock dating back to the late 1970's through the early '90's, when small music clubs proliferated in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.  Magazines like Trouser Press, Matter, and the New Music Express gave some coverage to the scene, and ultimately some bands were esteemed by music critics and grew to be popular and successful in the mainstream.  My musical interests tended toward the experimental and improvisational, as reflected in the aforementioned journals' comparisons of recordings by groups I worked with to the Doors and the Velvet Underground.  Such press coverage was minimal; the groups were insignificant, except that they provided a great deal of experience in performing and recording, expanding my awareness of both cultural and technical ideas and processes.

As to nostalgia, that would be absurd.  I do recall one evening after a long rehearsal, relaxing and listening to an album titled Evening Star by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, and becoming aware, with sudden certainty, that this music was, in terms of heightening intellectual and emotional awareness, far superior to anything possible with rock, jazz/fusion or otherwise, and that beside it rock and roll was, at best, boring. 

That moment made all that is under consideration here possible.