Pulled Under by Janek Schaefer

Following ‘Above Buildings’ on Fat Cat Records [which was awarded an ‘Honorary Mention’ at the Prix Ars Electronica and was a CD of the week in The Guardian newspaper] ‘Pulled Under’ is released in a deluxe digipack with vivid photography collected during Janek’s recent travels. The conception for the overall work was taken from the cover image, a safety drawing depicting the perils of falling into the slippery rapids found in Yosemite National Park, California. The album was produced throughout 2001 and edited in tandem with Janek’s evolving concert improvisations. Through using a contact microphone and a stylus to amplify either static surfaces or revolving grooves, the result is an evocative Electroacoustic composition, and as such is ideally suited to close listening: ‘Foreground Music’.

Beginning with his 84th individual composition, Pulled Under forms an enveloping and dense stream of macrosonic [close focus] soundscapes. Navigating fluidly through a series of absorbing and granular abstract environments and encountering Ballard’s ‘Drowned World’.

The raw material mostly combines modified travel recordings, live out-takes and custom made vinyl manipulations using the ‘Twin’ turntable, an 8rpm ‘Record Player for the Blind’ and his ‘Tri-Phonic Turntable’ [which was recently entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the worlds ‘Most Versatile Record Player’ !]

SuperChannel: Ringing in the hour ahead intricate activities nestle among swollen chords. Transferring from actual to imaginary spaces then finally leaving a trail of gentle tones and static debris.

Rapid Xativa: Swiftly mutating, sounds collide and collect sliding over each other and abruptly vanishing. Cyclical phrases meet throbbing chambers where sounds open and close. Bouncing tone arms drift into pulsating revolutions and descend through a Spanish atrium.

Penumbral Rover: Restructured as a travelogue encountered in close proximity, the source material was taken from an installation by Andy Gracie using radio signals from the sun recorded during a solar eclipse. This was the first track written for the album and was originally produced for the ‘Positron Array’ remix CD on Iris Light [www.irislight.co.uk]. Special thanks to Andy for the invitation to compose the track.

Maison a Bordeaux: Framed by an architectural interior, disembodied guitars and slow motion’s animate a vacant scene. As the guitars recede, a moving floor mechanism from a structural masterpiece gently ushers you up into a serene landscape. The material was adapted from Janek’s sound track for the ‘OMA Rem Koolhaas:Living’ exhibition.

Parallel Spoor: is the longest track and also the most travelled. Phase 1 begins with vinyl variations recorded in a ‘lie down’ Parisian concert hall. These merge into an Oval streetscape and subsequently the live work space in Holland overlooking a rail track where the track was written [Spoor is Dutch for a platform or trail]. Phase 2 overlays multiple concerts that gradually deconstruct to expose the inner particles of sound. These trail off passing through cavernous voids.

sienna: Emerging from these caverns, an Italian roomscape opens onto a pulsating corridor. While traversing the ancient Pallio square a sustained colour tone rests under a claustrophobic burnt surface.

Lithospheric Shifts: was initially written for the Sub Rosa ‘Floating Foundation’ CD. This is an amended mix. Slowly building, rolling phrases gather to become indomitable in scale revealing an organic plateau. The track was made solely with the 8rpm ‘record player for the blind’.

Vertrek: is the Flemish word for ‘Departure’. Electrostatic textures adhere to one another encircling lost notes as grains of sound flicker and slip out of sight……………………

Tracklist

1.	SuperChannel	4:53

2.	Rapid Xativa	5:17
3.	Penumbral Rover	7:36
4.	Maison å Bordeaux	9:14

5.	Parallel Spoor	14:31
6.	Sienna	6:13

7.	Lithospheric Shifts	6:54
8.	Vertrek	8:22

Credits

released April 29, 2002

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