Paper by Gideon Wolf

From the label: Gideon Wolf is the alias for musician and composer Tristan Shorr; who, at the age of 29, with no prior training or experience, decided to pursue a career as a musician…

Six months later, he had self released an EP and accepted a place on a Music Composition MA at Goldsmiths University. Since then, Shorr has been forging a career as a composer for theatre, dance, performance & film. He is currently a member of noise makers Vlk and as a founder and member of London based music collective Orchestra Elastique has played at the ICA, Café OTO and toured venues in Berlin, Istanbul and Romania.

Paper is his first solo release as Gideon Wolf, with cello by Steph Patten and live processing by Tom Mudd. The album began as a series of piano improvisations, recordings informed by the concepts of narrative, memory and place. After twelve months charting the boundaries of these seven territories, Shorr presents us the map; a hidden manipulated history of the landscapes of everyday life.

The thread that binds Paper is partly the resonant geography of London, but also the dislocative effect of travel through a variety of landscapes – making Paper the musical equivalent of unfamiliar scenery glimpsed through the window of a fast moving vehicle; blurred but vivid. The material on the album reflects his approach as a self taught drummer and percussionist through his intuitive use of whatever sound making objects happen to be on hand at the time, be they drums, cello, piano, guitar, voice or software.

Paper is to be released though Fluid Audio as a limited edition of 200 glass mastered CDs; with letter-pressed covers resting inside stamped/numbered/typed envelopes, an accompanying set of 6 double sided 12 x 12 prints on heavy card stock, 12 x 12 print with words from the artist, mini card, scent and download code.

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From the artist: As a musician/ music maker the thread that binds many of my ideas within the projects and collaborations that I am involved with, is the use of improvisation as a starting point to explore and construct new work. In this framework I am able to develop and play with ideas without the creative process becoming stale. The groundwork that improvisation provides forms an outline for my interests and research into notions of memory, real and imagined landscapes, and the hidden histories and narratives our everyday lives create. It is within these concepts of place (real and imagined) and memory that I have tried to reflect what it is to map and re-map these spaces, through the use of music.

The Construction of the LP ‘Paper’ began as a series of piano improvisations created in conjunction with a live feed taken from the piano that was processed/ manipulated and played back into the space. This series of live recording sessions with piano/ live manipulation form the basic structure from which this record has been developed over the past year.

As a percussionist I tend to play whatever I can get my hands on. The material on this album reflects this through the use of instruments such as drums, cello, piano, guitar, voice, objects and various pieces of software & sound making devices.

Under the alias ‘Gideon Wolf’ this record I hope reflects an experience that is very visual and indicative (I hope) of feelings we may have when travelling through a variety of landscapes. For me ‘Paper’ is about the city (London – where I’ve spent most of my child/ adult life) and the real and imagined landscapes that resonate for me there as inspiration for wanting to make this particular collection of music.

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