Out of the void, a deep menacing drone climbs into the listener’s ear where it remains, groaning louder and louder, enveloping, shattering worlds. It is the primordial sound of the earth turning on its axis. The guttural cry of ancient Gods, ringing through the caverns of the soul. It is Gunnar Haslam’s latest foray on Going In, “Llac Agre.”
Recorded December 22 in a single take using a Serge synthesizer and a Revox tape machine, this piece represents years of effort by the Barcelona-based artist. All along, his intention was to record a live composition exploring the glacial movement of a single texture. After a number of recorded takes that didn't feel quite right, Haslam finally struck gold upon settling in his new home on the Spanish coast.
In his own words, the music “seems to come from everywhere—an enveloping aural landscape that feels three dimensional but without any clear points of reference.” As the listener’s focus deepens on the gradually evolving drone, this design becomes apparent. Like a cyclical notion of time, “Llac Allegre” assumes a non-linear form, eschewing beginnings and endings in favor of a more ever-present feel, as though these sounds have always existed.
Across 61 minutes, the piece does seem to move at a glacial pace, reflecting the slow crawl of seasonal shifts, the subtle maelstrom of elemental forces sweeping over the earth, the eternal void of space caressing the planet. Parsed into three discernible movements that rumble and swirl around the stereo field, “Llac Agre” immerses the listener in an ongoing diffusion of time and space. By its end, we might be wondering, “isn't this where we came in?” And that's the point. When the music fades, we are left with a sense of boundlessness, a recognition that energy is neither created nor destroyed, including and perhaps most important, consciousness itself.
credits
released April 7, 2023
Written, produced and performed by Chris MIller
Mastered by Keith Fullerton Whitman
Art Direction by Andrew Charles Edman
Liner notes by Zoey Shopmaker
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