Hidden Orchestra – Video Premiere: »Still«

Foto:Kat Gollock / © Tru Thoughts
Auf seinem neuen Album mischt der britische Komponist Joe Acheson Field Recordings mit einer breiten Palette an akustischen und elektronischen Instrumenten zu einer atmosphärischen und cinematischen Klanglandschaft.
Field Recordings von Vogelgesängen, Spaziergängen oder Reisen des Komponisten bilden die klangliche Grundlage für Joe Achesons Musik auf dem dritten Album des [Hidden Orchestra](https://www.hhv-mag.com/de/glossareintrag/2069/hidden-orchestra.) Dafür bringt er die Klänge der tschechischen »Clarinet Factory« zusammen mit einem breiten Spektrum an akustischen und elektronischen Instrumenten wie Bass, Schlagzeug, Percussions, Klavier, Elektro-Harfe, Zither, Cello und dem türkischen Holzblasinstrument Mey.

So erzeugt der britische Bassist und Komponist auf »Dawn Chorus«, seinem am 16.6.17 bei TruThoughts erscheinendem dritten Album, eine vielfältig abwechslungsreiche dynamische und dramatische Klanglandschaft. Joe Acheson selbst beschreibt das Album als »eine Art persönliches Audiotagebuch, Zeitkapsel oder Sammlung von Erinnerungen«.


What was the artistic approach, the starting point when writing on your new album?

Joe Acheson: I had been working on the track »Wingbeats« (released Nov 2016) on and off for over 10 years, gradually combining samples from other pieces I wrote as I went along, and eventually I managed to finish it by setting it to the structure of a dawn chorus I recorded in 2014.

Then I had the idea that I could create a whole album featuring fragments from my archive of compositions and field recordings, brought together into ten tracks by using ten different dawn chorus recordings. So the album includes samples from various pieces of music I wrote in the last twenty years, from field recordings made in the last ten years, and ten dawn choruses recorded since 2009.

But it also includes a recording my father made of my uncle playing the piano in 1967 (with me playing along on the same piano 50 years later) – and you could say the starting point is the oldest recording, a 1947 recording of a wren by Carl Weismann, from the British Library.

Compared to your work in the past, how does »Dawn Chorus« differ?

Joe Acheson: Musically, the album is consistent with my previous Hidden Orchestra work – I think it’s important to keep the project recognisable, and true to its original aims (electronic music made with acoustic instruments and natural sounds, an imaginary orchestra built from individual recordings of different musicians).

However, due to the way it was written as outlined above, it has ended up being my most personal album so far, connected to my past travels, homes and projects in different ways – like a kind of personal audio diary, time capsule or memoir.


Die erste Single »Still« bringt musikalisch das tschechische Bläser-Quartett Clarinet Factory mit den im Acheson Park in Brighton aufgenommenen Morgengesang von Singvögeln zusammen. Das Video zu »Still« kommt von Limbic. Wir hatten die Gelegenheit Limbic kurz zu der Idee hinter dem Video zu fragen. Wie haben sie sich der Musik von Hidden Orchestra genähert?

Limbic: We wanted to visually represent the natural elements in the music without being too literal and decided to use the idea of a Birds dream as a starting point. The birds journey allowed us to navigate various landscapes and the light organism acted as prey that drew the bird deeper into its own dream.


Tracklist

  • 01 First Light
  • 02 Western Isles
  • 03 Still
  • 04 The Lizard
  • 05 Long Orchard
  • 06 Alyth
  • 07 Wingbeats
  • 08 Serpentine
  • 09 Stone
  • 10 East London Street

Das Video zu »Still« kommt von Limbic. Grundidee war die traumhafte Reise eines Vögelchens.
»Dawn Chorus« von Hidden Orchestra erscheint am 16.6.17 bei TruThoughts.