mikehoolboom
Is it the best release from the sterling Unfathomless label? Every track is exquisitely designed, filled with carefully placed details and stereo wonders, evoking the life of docks and boats. From these once familiar settings, a symphonic unsettling embracing wonder. It closes with a magisterial reworking of church bells that spread across a watery horizon. Heavenly.
Glass mastered CD. Packaged in clear vinyl sleeve with folded insert and additional art card on 350gr satin paper. Limited edition of 170 hand-numbered copies.
Includes unlimited streaming of faux naturel
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
edition of 170
€12EURor more
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
strictly limited numbered edition CD (30 copies) - SPECIAL EDITION
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Glass mastered CD. Packaged black mass–tinted cardboard digisleeve with frame.
It holds a set of 2 double-sided art cards with a different artwork from the regular edition on 350gr satin paper + a set of 3 square photos on glossy Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper Supreme...
Inner sleeve features a strip of old marbled flyleaf paper (none the same) mentioning edition number + artist's name and title...
Includes unlimited streaming of faux naturel
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Faux naturel is a piece composed around the sonic and musical exploration of two axial ideas: that of falsehood and that of natural / nature.
In general terms, we take as false what appears to be not true, that is, we consider false something whose truth value is negative (the logical expression or correlate of a negation). By contrast, we regard something as true as having a positive truth value, as constituting the expression of a true statement.
As for the word natural, one of its strongest connotations is that of birth or spontaneous / self-determined sprouting, a fact confirmed by the etymology of the word that derives from the Latin natura (from the verb nascor). The most common use we make of the word natural indicates a fundamental split between the field of objects constructed by man and everything that is spontaneously created by nature. If this split corresponds to a kind of formal operative delimitation of distinction between what is self-generated and what is produced by man, the term artificial corresponds to the expression of everything that exists and is not natural. But could we easily accept such a conclusion? In reality, and despite the fact that the word artificial is etymologically related to artifice – from Latin artificum / artifex [ ars + fex ], i.e., what is produced through a certain way of doing – it is easy to understand that, considering the natural world from a macro-scale perspective, the aforementioned split is not only equivocal but also factious. Indeed, and in ontological terms, if we accept that everything which is natural belongs to the plan of nature and that man is a creation of nature, we can conclude that what is created by man is nothing more than natural. Consequently, artifice is no longer regarded as a mode opposed to natural creation or causation (autopoiesis), but rather as the pragmatic (productive and creative) expression that – by nature – is constitutive of man. Splitting man and nature is like making a fundamental distinction between a thing and nothing, it isn’t, in short, possible. In this sense, and giving a modest but enlightening example, an anthill or a building are equally natural creations. In conclusion, and in this sense, there is nothing that corresponds to a false natural or a false naturality, and this album is an exercise that meditates on this very conclusion.
Faux naturel is a soundscape composition that intends to give an aural and musical expression to the idea of non-scission between man and nature, between the so-called artificial sound environments and natural sound environments. It also intends to represent a musical expression guided by the principles of ambiguity and the dilution of the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, between the acoustic and electroacoustic planes. Faux naturel is, therefore, a meta-soundscape, a composition that explores elements of geophony, biophony and anthropophony in a free way, i.e., not conditioned by the observance of the spatiotemporal coherence of the gathered field recordings for this composition. The sound palette of this composition was captured in different latitudes and geographical spaces, being one of the main objectives of the piece to give concreteness to the idea of an imaginary itinerary, of a sonic journey constituted by the acoustic exploration of spaces that are, in certain cases and moments, similar (sharing formal semantic categories, for example: geophonic sounds [water in harbours / docks], or anthropogenic noise sounds, coming from vehicles, traffic), and, in others, totally different.
Faux naturel presents soundscapes that depart from the acoustic material of the explored places to the phenomenological space of an audition that is embodied in moments of tension and liberation, of different perspectives of distance and magnified proximity, of unusual contrasts between euphonic, noisy and hypnagogic sound plots; dense and organic sound masses, textures and pronounced / unexpected musical gestures, seeking to involve the listener in a captivating and aesthetically variegated listening.
The sounds of faux naturel were recorded by implementing various recording techniques: stereo (AB, XY, ORTF, Binaural and MS) and mono (shotgun, hydrophone and contact microphones). Regarding the audio recording devices, various equipment were used, such as: an iPhone SE and the following digital recorders Tascam DR-70D & Sound Devices MixPre-3.
Finally, and although my work in compositional terms is mainly focused on exploring the idea of potential ambiguity between mimetic and abstract musical discourses, I must mention that the title of this composition was inspired by reading a set of texts by Bernard Parmegiani about his magnum opus – De Natura Sonorum. When talking about his attempt to conciliate concrete and electronic elements, Parmegiani mentions that, and we quote:
“L’artifice du montage matérialise cette volonté de conciliation, en fabriquant un faux naturel. Toujours dans cette perspective de conciliation, les sons électroniques […] s’ajusteront docilement […] aux sons concrets.” (Jean-Christophe Thomas, Jean-Jacques Nattiez, Philippe Mion, “L’Envers d’une Oeuvre – De Natura Sonorum, by Bernard Parmegiani”, p. 35)
(João Castro Pinto, 26 August 2022)
~
final note : for an enhanced sonic experience, and due to the extreme dynamics between silent and louder sounds, listen to this album at a loud volume, preferably via good quality monitor speakers or headphones.
credits
released November 14, 2022
Locations : Alhandra, Amarante, Cascais, Coimbra, Genève, Lisboa, Liverpool, Manchester, Tallinn and Tomar
The field recordings comprehend elements from geophonies (waterscapes: ocean, rivers, ponds, lakes), biophonies (birds, insects, dogs), anthropophonies (voices) & anthropogenic noise (assorted vehicles, dock platforms, fences, etc.).
The piece also includes clean and processed field recordings from sound making, namely the manipulation of distinct materials and found objects in several locations.
Cover & card design + treatments by Daniel Crokaert.
Based exclusively on photos by Sofia A. Carvalho & João Castro Pinto.
a thematic ltd series focusing primarily on phonographies reflecting the spirit of a specific place crowded with memories, its aura & resonances and our intimate interaction with it…
Exceptional work. At the same level as "Time + Place" and that is saying a lot. Joda Clément is one of the best sound experimentalists of our time
 JOSE MANUEL PEREZ RODRIGUEZ
These two sprawling 20-minute electronic pieces offer both crackling, otherworldly textures and moments of surprising beauty. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 15, 2023
Shards of static & distortion crash against disarmingly beautiful piano & synth melodies on this riveting new record from Carbon and Prose. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 30, 2022
The North Carolina singer and multi-instrumentalist translates the "story of lightness" into nine experimental ambient spirituals. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 8, 2021
