Tuesday 7 August 2012

Occupied With An Unspoken Golden Retriever



Occupied With The Unspoken is the new record from Portland duo Jonathan Sielaff (of Au) and Matt Carlson (of Parenthetical Girls) AKA Golden Retriever, and their first through esteemed experimental label Thrill Jockey. The album is both a meditation on and a study of how music can be made, by focusing on the ways in which polyphonic music can be molded from monophonic instruments. The bass clarinet and the analog modular synthesizer are generally both capable of playing only one note at a time. By intertwining electronics into the mixing and layering the results, a tapestry of sonics emerges which feels organic in origin but is anything but. This is the kind of extrapolation of sound that the Inner Islands stable would find inimitably fascinating. Much like contemporaries in these exploratory realm, Golden Retriever wouldn't ever play these concise versions of songs, tended for a 25-to-30 minute interpretation which allows for pondering and feeling out, thus making Occupied With the Unspoken a unique experience all its own. I always surprise myself about which experimental sound installation I will connect with, and which to me doesn't lead anywhere - but Thrill Jockey is a pretty good indicator of where my cards normally fall. Golden Retriever, whilst not a safe bet for some, is a risk worth taking.


You can grab Occupied With The Unspoken here. Check out the song and video 'Canopy' below.

Golden Retriever - Canopy

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