till her breath warmed his face

tarrl lightowler

new review of colin andrew sheffield's signatures by jim haynes in the wire magazine, right next to giancarlo toniutti's stunning new cd qwalsamtimutkw?italuc'ik (and now he almost did make himself into hemlock needles, it is said) sound-field for rattle-harp

....there's plenty of preamble when it comes to this album from colin sheffield. this artist works reductively with appropriated material, and this is a label that is dedicated to works evoking avian life and their environment. signatures presents an opaque set of recordings through that conceptual lens in these four monochromatic tracks of suspended drone and din. the flattened layers of the first three tracks have the gravity of thick grey concrete, occasionally arcing into curved surfaces and bulging masses. while it's hard to categorise any of these sounds as birdlike, they are impressively physical renderings of a minimalist ethos. the album's finale "breath of day" is considerably lighter, with a sustained tone burst that resembles the church organs from touch's spire series. sheffield directs us toward heaven: and in casting our eyes upward, there's the chance we might spot a rare bird soaring in the sunlight.

other fine reviews:

hardformat
textura
bagatellen
just outside
vital weekly
tokafi

darkness moves:

- svarte greiner - penpals forever - digitalis limited - 2008
- svarte greiner - kappe - type - 2008
- svarte greiner - man bird dress - smtg limited - 2008
- elegi - sistereis - miasmah recordings - 2007
- elegi - verde - miasmah - 2009
- jacaszek - treny - miasmah - 2008
- mark peter wright - a quiet reverie - resonance fm - 2009
- andrew chalk (as ferial confine) - first, second, and third - siren records - 1986/2008
- john luther adams - in the white silence - new world records - 2003
- loren chasse - exfolia motors - unique ancient tavern - 2000
- loren chasse - fantasy apparition - s'agita recordings - 2002
- loren chasse (of) - quartz pond - jewelled antler - 2004
- loren chasse, phil mouldycliff, colin potter, keith rowe - debris field ambient wash - icr - 2006
- tim hecker - an imaginary country - kranky - 2009
- the hafler trio - how to slice a loaf of bread - phonometrography - 2003
- celer - tropical - mystery sea - 2008
- celer - cursory asperses - slow flow - 2008
- the jewelled antler library - porter records - 2008
- steve roden - ice - 2009
- steve roden - a slow moving boat - new plastic music - 2008
- machinefabriek - dauw - dekorder - 2008
- stephen vitiello - stephen vitiello with eighth blackbird - magic if 2008
- apm - sprint mill - icr - 2008
- alexander knaifel - blazhenstva - ecm - 2008

title from thomas hardy's tess of the d'urbervilles