Ian Andrews | Ceremonial
Diamond AQ CDR | F.0034.0001
Ian Andrews is a Sydney based artist who has been producing film, video and sound works since 1981. A forerunner of Australian artists Pimmon, Oren Ambarchi and The Loop Orchestra, Andrews has released works under a variety of guises both in Australia and internationally. 'Ceremonial' is his first CD under his own name and the inaugural release on Fällt's 'Ferric' burn-to-order series of CDs.
A series of gritty audio montages underpinned throughout by detailed rhythms and exquisite textures 'Ceremonial' is a beautiful suite of tracks which cover a wide range of styles and sounds. Andrews states:
"Each track is simple and modular to begin with, but then slowly evolves into a more detailed and intricate construction. Simple step sequences or patterns in different time signatures - 4/4, 5/4, 3/4 - are blended together to create complex, shifting textures. Dubbed out rhythms vibrate over a digital soundscape of crackling gravel, ball bearings, hisses, whines and distant rattles, punctuated by stripped back assymetrical basslines."
In the words of Gordon McEwan (%Array), "For all of 'Ceremonial's' aerodynamic sleekness not much is left unflecked by digital grit and off-centre interventions. Closing with a hint of Vladislav Delay circa 'Entain', 'Jaffa' burns slowly, its chords rippling in the middle distance whilst we view, in a grainy photo or through a smudged lens, the memory of a picnic in a park when birds were singing and glasses chinked convivially.
"Well paced and thoroughly immersive."
