Chris Dooks / Machinefabriek – The Eskdalemuir Harmonium

LP Title: The Eskdalemuir Harmonium

EP Title: Non-Linear Responses of Self-Excited Harmoniums

Komino K0M1N0-004 (Vinyl LP & Digital w/ EP) Time: LP About 36 Minutes EP About 13 Minutes

Record Label: http://kominorecords.com/

Chris Dooks: http://www.dooks.org/  More on the LP trilogy: http://www.idioholism.com/

Machinefabriek: http://www.machinefabriek.nu/

Tracks LP (LP & Digital): 1) The Pike Knowes The Loupin’ Stanes; 2) Betamax and Dictaphones; 3) Ewe Knowe The Girdle Stanes; 4) Settlement

Tracks EP (Digital): 1) Steady States and Transient Oscillations; 2) Aerodynamic Excitation of the Harmonium Reed; 3) The Motion of Air-Driven Free Reeds

Authentic, synthetic, living, languishing, animate, inanimate, well, ailing, history and the now: these are the explorations of the latest collaboration of Chris Dooks and Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek).  Like many, I have always been drawn to the old and mysterious, wanting to know more about the history of things, the times in which they existed (and in this case, what hands and feet brought these venerable machines to life).  Harmoniums are vestiges of another time (mostly from the late 18^th C through the middle 20^th C), inanimate objects, strangely biomorphic in their inner workings that are revived with physical exertion, air in their bellows (the lungs) and resonant metal reeds producing the sounds (the vocal chords).  Neglected harmoniums often mournfully creak and object to being revived after long slumbers.  A friend of mine once used the term “lumbering harmonium” to describe his relic on an instrument—curiously descriptive in both reality and material (when the verb is used as a noun).

These soundtracks depict a retreat of solitude into the Scottish countryside, one of a series of three projected works and part of Chris Dooks’s PhD research in sound art and medical humanities, as well as response to a chronic illness; the search for comfort and rest through improvised sonic threads (passed between Dooks and Zuydervelt during their development) that were crafted from music, field and voice recordings.  The resulting drone-like ambiance is a fascinating and relaxing journey with sociological, archaeological and radio documentary parallels.  Thanks to the on-location recordings, there is a strong sense of place and memory imbued into this album.

The recordings, liner sleeve and notes, photographs and graphics are impeccably produced as is the ruby red vinyl LP.  This is the second Komino Records LP that I have acquired (the first being Kyle Bobby Dunn’s In Miserum Stercus, which I reviewed in late 2012).  The digital EP presents additional serene field and harmonium recordings—a beautiful production overall.

The next album in the series will be Three Hundred Square Miles of Upwards.

Pre-Master Recordings from Three Hundred Square Miles of Upwards

The third album will be CIG{R}LES.

Pre-Master Samples from CIG{R}LES