A CD and a DVD in a gatefold card sleeve with the promise of ‘sound art’ that deals with time / place / space. But my intrigue soon turns to ennui, and simultaneously my capacity to be creative in my reviewing evaporates. So, the facts.
CD
V O L U M E. 4 minutes and 22 seconds. Drones and hums. Not a lot happens.
Drainbirds (Original Stereo Mix). 5 minutes and twenty five seconds. Bird song. Twitters and tweets. Not a lot happens.
V O L U M E (Extended for Stairwell). Ten minutes and one second. Drones and hums. Near silence. Not a lot happens over a longer period of time than the shorter version.
DVD
Piece ONE: Stairwell 2007. A live recording.
Piece TWO: Drainbirds (Drain Recording). Six minutes and forty two seconds of bird song. Even better than walking in woodland on a perfect summer’s day.
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Piece THREE: Samadhi Mechanism (5.1 Mixdown Sound and Visual). Fourteen minutes and thirty one seconds. Mostly drones and rumbles, occasionally building to levels that are immense, but for the most part, it’s a mechanical hum that accompanies the footage of starkly-illuminated corridors and sleek, shiny machinery. Conceptually, it’s cool, but as an actual experience... well, it’s fourteen minutes and thirty one seconds of my life I’ll never get back.
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