david toop/akio suzuki/lawrence english: breathing spirit forms

In August 2013, David Toop and Akio Suzuki visited Australia. During a residency on Tamborine Mountain (an anglicized version of the Yugambeh word Jambreen), the pair were joined by Lawrence English for a series of site specific, environment-led improvisations created around the fringes of the Tamborine plateau. Embedded in place, these recordings flow from and merge into the land on which they were created. Aural emissions answering back to the frenetic songforms of Lyre birds, the murmuring waterfalls and the hushed ambiences of night insects amongst the foliage. Includes 24-page book with text by David Toop, drawings by Akio Suzuki and photography by Lawrence English. From Lawrence English: "I am ceaselessly fascinated by how memory operates and, I'm regularly struck by how individually subjective a collective experience can be when recalled by its participants. Lynch's Lost Highway comes to mind here, specifically Bill Pullman's character Fred Madison who says 'I like to remember things my own way. How I remembered them, not necessarily the way they happened.' Like Madison, I can't help but sense that memory takes shape through an accumulative process that reflects how each of us have lived (and maybe even wanted to live) up to that point in time. Going back to listen again to these recordings of which I was a part with David and Akio, I was surprised by what elements had stayed with me and what others had slipped into the eternal greying of my mind. I have vivid recollections of listening to a Lyre bird before recording the pieces together at Witches Falls. I remember both Akio and David finding musicality in decaying palm fronds. I remember Akio's voice, amplified through his Analpos, bouncing off the stones and trees. I remember David's flute, so quiet in the pitch black of the night forest as to appear like a hushed tone of wind or a distant animal calling. I also remember trying to match my modest hand-held electronics with the pulsing and pitching of the insects around me . . . Breathing Spirit Forms represents a distinctive exchange between friends and collaborators. Tamborine commands a special presence and encourages a deep patience from those who are willing to give time to its varied environments. For the three of us, we were fortunate to share these moments together, fleeting in our lives as they might be, to sense the mountain's unique qualities, to respond to them through our exchanges and to form memories (as disparate as they might be) we carry forward with us in time."