Hessien
Surprising astrologists everywhere, Hessien continue to generate spontaneously out of the ether near the equator, somewhere between Australia and the UK.
The debut long player from Hessien, “Home Is Where The Ghost Is”, marks the point in the ongoing collaboration between Tim Martin and Charles Sage where the conversation has evolved into a dialogue. Previous releases have all shown a tendency towards deconstructed electronic/acoustic ambient micro-noise, and this release takes the deconstructionalist tendencies further, moving into a realm where implied structure and static drone meet subtle melody and tranquil haze.
If it were cinema, it would be the self-indulgent but expressive work of the American New Wave of the late 60’s to early 80’s– immersive, shot on location, widescreen. Long 35mm tracking shots of the landscape with plenty of film grain and lens flare, as opposed to close ups and jump cuts. A healthy contempt for the studio system but still able to work inside it, an ability to communicate thematic elements and languid storytelling to a knowledgeable audience who are appreciative of not being talked down to. Furthering the 70’s references are name drops to icons of that era (‘Get Polanski’, ‘The Death Of ABBA’) as well as further references to cinematography and the scientific principles around the transmission of light (‘The Invisible Man’, ‘Rontgen’s Vibrations’). The core of the album is enigmatic but the outer themes present a unifying thread, decipherable over repeated listens.
The dense layered arrangements of previous releases have been stripped back considerably – melody is still visible, but glimpsed from a distance; the same way the heavily medicated view life through a foggy and thick narcotic glaze. Central melodies are heard from a considerable distance, in much the same way you’d hear Edif Piaf in the deep third level of an Inception dream within a dream.
The project was tracked and largely completed over a frenzied two days of activity early in 2010, with multiple extra layers recorded and mostly discarded over the following few months, with the record defiantly rejecting most attempts to alter it in any significant way.
“Home Is Where The Ghost Is” is released in late October, after the Fluid Audio/Handstitched* split “Obelisk|Stelea”. It is limited to 100 CD digipack copies. The distinctive cover art and accompanying video for ‘Part Of You’ are the work of artist Matt Pearson and are used by kind permission.
www.hessien.net
"Obelisk" - as Hessien's landscape evolves, the sound continues to push into an environment littered with obstacles. Although not obvious at first, there is a relationship between these objects; a focus on submerged, hazy rhythms and textures that mirror the unconventional landscapes and surrounds. Prominent on this release is the human voice, represented in snatches of field recordings and overheard conversations, including vocals contributed by Jane Williams. Acoustic tones continue to underpin the tactile electronic arrangements - loops, delays, e-bow, cello, pedals, creaking furniture and low-fi hiss rearing up then dropping away as quickly as they came.
"Stelea" - these four pieces have been intercepted in various states of formation by –
Solo Andata - combining distant parts of the original composition with their faultless signature sequences, unmistakable and balanced.
The ever-prolific Jasper TX - weaving his acoustical, drone-style magic into the mix, floating into a territory with a never-ending haze as the backdrop.
Zelienople - an open-handed reinterpretation shines and guides the way forward with acoustic/prog interestingness, flowing with a staccato pulse.
And finally, Konntinent - transporting the listener into an irregular, avant-garde-like version, fuzzed-up, resampled and re-routed via a tape deck.
All four reworks have been broken down, inspected, and then put back together. Four pieces becoming eight tales of dislocation, separation and musical connectivity. Hessien and the four remixers conspire a bizarre plot and an equally bizarre, larger-than-life conclusion.
Packaged in letter pressed covers that slip nicely into organic silk screened cotton pouches, this Handstitched* /Fluid Audio split release is limited to 200 copies. An 8-page full colour booklet containing exclusive images and 4 specially commissioned poems by Estela Lamat, themed around the 4 original songs by Hessien, also accompanies the release on October 4th.
www.fluidaudio.co.uk
www.handstitched.net
www.hessien.net
Hessien occurs somewhere between the UK and Australia, somewhere between the hours of 11pm and 6am (Southern Hemisphere) & 9am and 8pm (Northern Hemisphere) Hessien is made up of acoustic noise artist Charles Sage (Australia) and Tim Diagram of Maps and Diagrams (UK). They collided through a coincidence and were pleased to note that the collision has produced an EP - 'Skurjn', released in February. Skurjn is the first EP from Hessien, is limited to 100 physical copies (worldwide) housed in hand-stitched cork sleeves (from a sustainable source).
The musical contents are acoustically-challenged, inverted and lo-fi, an amalgamation of tanglible styles, pedal-work and mangled, modern conversions that combine the audible landscapes into one bigger image. Each song has been constructed from live workings and sketches of sound and field recordings, stitched together with fine acoustic thread and broken down into less accessible fragments to be built up again into mutual timings and compositions.
'Skurjn' is available from Norman Records and via digital form from Handstitched* Recordings at http://handstitched.bandcamp.com/. The video was produced by Tom Hudson in 2010, and can be found at http://vimeo.com/11529174.
Hessien also have a free .rar single on http://www.beko-dsl.com/ in France. Hessien can be found randomly recurring at short intervals around the Equatorial 3rd parallel-north in the early hours of the morning (or late at night, depending from which side you're looking at it)
Hessien have a mix from Fluid Radio available to stream at http://www.mixcloud.com/FluidRadio/hessien-descending-out-of-the-grey/
This self-titled Hessien ep was originally released for free download from Hessiens' web site in December 09 as a prelude to the 'Skurjn' ep on Handstitched* Recordings. After much demand for these songs to be released in flac/lossless formats they have been remastered and now appear at Bandcamp for easy, accessible downloading: http://handstitched.bandcamp.com/
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