FORMAT: STANDARD JEWEL

RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2006

FILE UNDER: Avant

CATALOG NO: XER-CD-103

UPC:

600401103029

BOX LOT: 25

RELEASE DATE: APRIL 11, 2006

XER-CD-103

lastair Galbraith is the glue that binds the New Zealand underground. His work

ranges from achingly lyrical violin for artists as disparate as Peter Jefferies and

the Bats, to the feedback squalls he conjures as member of A Handful Of Dust, to

the otherworldly miniatures he crafts for his own solo albums. However, in recent years,

Galbraith, along with American Matt De Gennaro, has developed another remarkable

performance idiom, one that is positioned closer to the sounding sculptures of Harry

Bertoia. In From the Dark (South Island), architectural idiosyncrasies are transformed

into nuanced and hypnotic audio. Wires —some as long as 100 feet— are affixed

throughout a building. When the wires are taut and stroked with rosined hands or a

piece of leather, longitudinal vibrations are sent to the points of attachment, creating a

natural resonator. It is not the wires that make the sound, but the wall, railing or window

frames at their end; wire length and room acoustics determine the pitch. The result,

achieved in a veil of total darkness, is a beauttiful and eerie confluence of chance and

accident, architecture and improvisation. As Galbraith puts it, "There is some quite

magical feeling of communion turning the lights off and making the building sing."

A

ALASTAIR GALBRAITH / MATT DE GENNARO

FROM THE DARK (SOUTH ISLAND)

LONG WIRES IN DARK MUSEUMS VOL. 2

"Instead of academic experimentation, there is a palpable darkness and primitivism being

thrust forth into the world, an invocation, if you will. If the performance space was really

pitch-black during these records, then you better believe some motherf*ckers were damn

near pissing their pants in terror."

—INK 19