Matt Davies

Other / Other / Other

Bristol, United Kingdom

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About

You are listening to a series of field recordings made by the artist Matt Davies.
All the recordings are unprocessed and unedited.

Special Releases

MACHINEFABRIEK & MATT DAVIES
Onkruid/Sanctuary (Limited Edition Box Set)
A Room Forever (Catalogue Number: EVP-001)
this is what Boomkat had to say...
No sooner had we finished listing last week's amazing box from Svarte Greiner - and it sold out, so this second instalment in the amazing "A Room Forever" label/art project is unlikely to touch the sides. This time round the music comes to us from composer/improv master Rutger Zuyderveldt under his Machinefabriek moniker (there's an excellent piece about him in this month's Wire magazine - well worth checking out), with the b-side handled by Touch affiliate and artist Matt Davies who provides some incredibly immersive field recordings. Once again the record comes packaged in a custom made box adorned with high quality digital c-print covers and letter pressed insert - with each one hand stamped and individually numbered. With all of that out of the way, however, we weren't quite prepared for the almost overwhelming aural engagement of Machinefabriek's 'Onkruid' - a track so layered and haunting it really does feel like the most vital and important piece of music in the vast Machinefabriek canon to date. It opens with a submerged hum of strings and found sounds that immediately bring to mind Arvo Part or the more recent appropriations of Marsen Jules, but the way Zuyderveldt handles the material you're left with the sense that at any minute the individual layers will start to fold in on themselves and multiply, or alternatively - fall apart. This is music of barely containable proportions, demanding emotional involvement at an almost unnerving level - and eventually rewarding you with tension and catharsis in a subtle and barely perceptible sonic manoeuvre that will leave you breathless. It's just a truly remarkable piece of music from this hugely prolific artist - and impossible to capture fully in one sitting. Over on the flipside, Matt Davies carefully assembles field recordings taken at the Lee Valley Park Bird Sanctuary, the hum of found sounds joined by the distant, seemingly pre-ordained cascade of birdsong and fluttering wings, making their own subliminal kind of music in a way that seems to have been designed to fit in with these musical surroundings. It's a strangely reflective piece and indicative of the kind of emotional resonance the best kind of field recordings manage to achieve - you're left with a nostalgic and wondrous mental image of a beautiful moment in time captured for eternity on this age-old format. It's a moving and somehow inspirational end to this magnificent record - and exceptional package. Please HURRY if you want one of these - consider yourself warned!
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=97739