robert aiki aubrey lowe: levitation praxis pt 4

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe's incredible experiments with Harry Bertoia's sound sculptures are here documented on this beautiful new edition for Demdike Stare's DDS imprint, coinciding with his appearance on Semtember 2017's issue of The Wire magazine. Lowe is something of a polymath; having started out as part of math rock outfit 90 Day Men and doom metal trio Om, he progressed to forge his own solo work (often under the Lichens moniker), as well as a whole slew of collaborations, including work with Johann Johannsson on scoring both Arrival (2016) and Sicario (2015), an acclaimed album with Ariel Kalma for RVNG Intl's FRKWYS series, plus active involvement in site-specific video art and sound installations. His most recent work under his own name has seen him release diverse music for Type, Latency, More Than Human, and, of course, DDS who have, with this album, presented what might just be the most beautiful Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe artefact thus far. In 2016, Lowe was commissioned by New York's museum of Arts and Design to contribute to a Harry Bertoia exhibition, which he undertook alongside video director Johann Rashid. He was asked to create sound recordings with Sonambient sculptures; metal rods and gongs that produce highly distinct, resonant sounds when struck, brushed, or touched. Beginning in 1968, Bertoia set up an eighteenth-century stone barn on his property in Barto, Pennsylvania, to house these sculptures and from which he would go on to record works for his highly collectable Sonambient label, as recently documented on Important Records' breathtaking box set  and reissue series. Lowe was given full access to the barn, beautifully filmed footage of which can be found on YouTube. Lowe's work with these sculptures is quite unlike anything you might have heard from those original Bertoia recordings. Instead of serendipitous improvisation, Lowe weaves his way through the sculptures on a path that was mapped out in advance, imbuing them with a more "composed" and arranged feel. As well as that familiar and distinct sound palette, he subtly manipulates and feeds in vocal layers that take proceedings into ever more ethereal and haunting dimensions. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton.