In Spring of 2015, the Atrocious Symphonies label in Madrid contacted me to draft a Coppice Halifax piece that was deep, dark and thick. It was intended for their upcoming Compilation Vol. III cassette (which you can purchase here:
atrocioussymphonies.bandcamp.com/album/atrocious-symphonies-compilation-vol-iii) and, as with all compilation requests that come my way, I sit down for a session devoted solely to the piece. This often yields much more crop than the compilation has a practical use for, as evidenced by the River Tableaux and Raft albums, and Monument, the piece I created for Atrocious Symphonies, was no exception.
A single 51 minute excursion through murky spaces, flooded with damp and murmuring drones, punctuated by a watery rhythm generated via controlled modular feedback on analog FX devices. Monument is just what it says on the tin - a pillar of blackness, looming in judgment, with all tonal content created by processing tapes of human dialogue (specifically from the 1980s). There is something remarkably reminiscent of the monolith scenes in 2001, with the disembodied voices of Ligeti echoing throughout the alien location. This piece was also inspired by the processed recordings of NASA's Voyager spacecraft, produced by Brain Mind Research in the early 1990s - those albums have had a profound and lasting effect on my work, and have encouraged me to find melodious qualities in sources that traditionally have none.
A six-minute edited "dance mix" version of Monument was created and released on the Atrocious Symphonies compilation tape, but until now, the full piece has never seen a release. Disembodied alien techno that hangs above the Earth, silently watching - perfect for the colder months.
released November 24, 2016
W/P by Brian Grainger. Recorded at Botany Bay, March 2015. Mastered by The Analog Botanist. Image courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center. This is Milieu Music number ABX39.