U47 | Banks Bailey | The Pool
The Pool part 1_excerpt
The Pool part 5_excerpt
format : CD ltd to 200 hand numbered copies
all copies come with an additional art card on 300gr satin paper
release year : 2017
length : 42’13
tracks :
1. The Pool part 1
2. The Pool part 2
3. The Pool part 3
4. The Pool part 4
5. The Pool part 5
status : still available
>>> order via Paypal : chalkdc@unfathomless.net
(Belgium) : 13 € (inc.postage)
(Europe) : 14 € (inc.postage)
(World) : 15 € (inc.postage)
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: info :
In the mountains near my home here in Tucson, Arizona is a place of many memories and emotions for me. Coming upon it years ago, I instantly felt a connection to the spirit of this place. To see the changes through the years as been a gift despite the grueling 12 mile ascent from the desert floor with way too much recording gear in my pack. It can be extremely quiet there at times despite the air traffic which is inevitable being so close to a major metropolitan area. The work consists of field recordings from 2011 to 2015 and attempts to convey my experiences there on many levels. In my youth I read a poem by Baudelaire entitled “Correspondences” which resonated with me greatly and I think the first two stanzas embody this place for me.
All nature is one temple, the living aisles whereof
Murmur in a soft language, half strange, half understood;
Man wanders there as through a cabalistic wood,
Aware of eyes that watch him in the leaves above.
Like voices echoing in his senses from beyond
Life’s watery source, and which into one voice unite,
Vast as the turning planet clothed in darkness and light,
So do all sounds and hues and fragrances correspond.
For Sigi
(Banks Bailey, 02 July 2016)
: reviews :
It seems it has been a while since I last reviewed something by Banks Bailey from Arizona and even then it was usually in collaboration with others, such Adrien Shenton or Ian Holloway. As far back as Vital Weekly 834 is when I last heard him solo. Bailey uses in his music Tibetan bowls, flutes and field recordings, although of course for Unfathomless it is all about field recordings and nothing else.
These were captured in the Madrona Canyon in the Rincon Mountains of Arizona. This place is connected to Bailey via a poem by Baudelaire, “Correspondences”, about nature being both common and alien to us. It is, apparently, near a metropolitan area, but there is no evidence of that captured in these five pieces. Everything here seems to be a quietness; a bit of birds, insects and the rustic sound of a mountain stream. I believe there are very little tricks applied by Bailey in this music. There is no electronic process applied in changing these sounds. The only thing that happens, so I believe, is that Bailey uses various events that might not be entirely related next to each other, and thus creates a collage out of the field recordings; it is a painting of the place with various elements and not a photo documenting it, if you catch my drift. It is not easy to think how this place looks like, but it seems all very quiet and not a very rough area. Maybe it just is a place to go, walk up and sit in quiet contemplation thinking about nature and how it is both common and alien to us. A very quiet CD but it captures a lot of beauty.
Frans de Waard
Vital Weekly
Unfathomless 