drawn to... Cloud Time by Emily A. Sprague

 

I was a little disappointed when my copy of Cloud Time by Emily A. Sprague arrived as it has fingerprints on it, a little dirt, some surface noise at the beginning of either side, and there is a slight warp on it :/ Sigh... But, I had chosen to buy one of the 'test pressings' which'll probably 'learn me'—I've never bought a 'test pressing' before and I guess the clue is probably in the name.

Nevertheless, this is a sweet record. Not as immediate as her previous solo LP—2020's Hill, Flower, Fog. I'd say Cloud Time is more of a 'grower', and in a good way—it requires repeated listens to begin to get inside. Also, it was created in a completely different manner to her 2020 LP—it is "live recordings of improvised music manifesting from a specific time and place". That time and place being Japan.

I've never been to Japan, but, oddly, whenever I listen to this, I find myself thinking of a beach in Jeolla province in southwest Korea that I used to visit in the mid-90s. So much so, that I ended up digging out some old photos from that time and place. Funny how music can do that kinda thing.

Oh, and I made the drawing above while listening to the LP using various 'Creative Artist' medium graphite pencils.

drawn to... Ura Omote by Betts(JP)

 

I've had Ura Omote by Betts(JP) on repeat play since first hearing it. Sometimes, I play the cassette version, but mostly I just stream it from bandcamp. It's good music to work to, but also to free draw to.

I like the musician's description of this recording:

The Japanese word "Ura Omote" means "front and back."

Many people try to show only their front-facing side while hiding their hidden side.

However, the face they try to keep hidden eventually reveals itself.

Trying to conceal it through the concept of Ura Omote is meaningless—everything ultimately comes to the surface.

I recorded the bustle of the city.

In the streets, electronic noise—inaudible to the human ear—buzzes faintly.

People unconsciously take in even those hidden sounds.

I'll be drawing more to Betts(JP) in due course. 

drawn to... nothing to dread by Claire Rousay & Gretchen Korsmo

 

I heard the quilted lament LP by claire rousay & Gretchen Korsmo for the first time last night. One refrain on the 7-track cassette kept begging for a replay and a drawing.

nothing to dread drifts from an imagined Silk Road ashram, circa 1973. You can almost hear Angus Maclise in the next room. It could, and maybe should, go on forever—or at least another hour or two.

I made the drawing using 0.5 and 0.7 black Steadler pigment liner pens and various pencils and an ink pen.

drawn to... Sakura by Susumu Yokota

 

I only learned about Susumu Yokota today as a I read a blog post about a live performance of Discreet Music at the Barbican. I made this quick drawing while listening to Saku from the Sakura LP by using 0.5 and 0.7 black Steadler pigment liner pens.

drawn to... imagine naked! by OHYUNG

I made these three drawings while listening to imagine naked! by OHYUNG—a quite brilliant, modern day scrapbook dipped in Discreet Music. It is the kind of thing I can play all day long. It is also the first music tape I have purchased since buying Selected Ambient Works Volume II by Aphex Twin in 1994.

I drew these as a way back into drawing to music. I tried to capture both the scrappy moments of the LP and the featherlight will-o'-the-wisp.

I think I'll return to imagine naked! when the tape arrives.

drawn to... The Inner Garden by Hadley Roe

I made these two drawings using a couple of different 'Creative Artist' graphite pencils while listening to The Inner Garden by Hadley Roe. I'm not sure how I stumbled across her very own special form of uplifting, nostalgic, melancholia, but I'm glad I did.

These drawings just happened as I listened. I made five in all, but these are the only two that 'worked' for me. I may return to this LP and try again.

drawn to... Country Tropics by Old Saw

I started drawing this a week or so back after first hearing the Country Tropics LP by Old Saw. I've had this four-track musical wonder on all week and—whenever I had an hour or so spare (not often, as it's been a bumper-sized, busy week)—I worked on this drawing while the music played.

In no way does the drawing do justice to the simply AMAZING LP, nor, I think, does it really reflect the music. In retrospect, I think this drawing is just something I did while listening to the LP.

Country Tropics is ambient, analogue, avant-garde, Americana, spattered with pedal steel, bells, banjo, fiddle drones, burring nylon, and pipe organ, and it is incredibly soothing. I like this description of the band by worriedsongs,

"A network of New England string pluckers, organ drivers and bell ringers crafting a rusted and granular shadow world where the dive bar meets the divine."

Search out Old Saw on Bandcamp - you won't be disappointed (unless that is, the vinyl is sold-out). And, here is an interview with Henry Birdsey, one of the brains behind Old Saw. His take on how and why he makes music is enlightening and spot on,

"Sound is innately terrifying and haunting. And it holds this magnetism over us because of that. We’re talking about physical pressure waves that are invisible and inescapable."

I made this drawing using four H and HB pencils on almost LP-sized Clairefontaine acid-free paper.

Originally posted on my old website.