Faitiche welcomes Andrew Black aka blackbody_radiation. His debut album Ultra-Materials gathers six ghostly drones, created with the help of sound masking.

Andrew Black, who hails from one of the UK's post industrial North West Milltowns has a sensitive feeling for space and its acoustics. Having trained as a designer and operated within the realms of architecture and public space, it was only natural to extend his interest to manipulating field recordings.

The six pieces collected on Ultra-Materials provide an insight into Black's highly sensitive minimalism: they stand for a subtly meandering mediation on room acoustics and place, which are manipulated with the help of sound masking, among other things - that is, the addition and superimposition of artificially generated frequencies to mask unwanted sounds. 

Sometimes the pieces are reminiscent of warm engine noise, sometimes one thinks of carefully captured natural phenomena. Their strength lies in their elusiveness: free of concrete attributions or musical location, they can unfold their hypnotic pull without revealing anything about their origins. Harmonics at times shimmer, at times warble and at times coexist. It is an attempt to get in touch with our listening abilities.
 

blackbody_radiation, photo by Andrew Black

blackbody_radiation: Ultra-Materials written and produced by Andrew Black
Visual concept and text collage by Andrew Black
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi
Design by Tim Tetzner

Expression is concurrent with the means.

For those people who  care: Jan.J for the encouragement, Chris.D for support, Frank.L for enthusiasm, Tobi.B for feedback, PDR for appreciating, Paul.F for the exchanges, Raluca.P & Thomas.P for listening. Burnley, DA, London, Athens & Chicago crews. My Mother for attentive listening and Ariane for being a patient listening partner.

absorb / reflect. bb_r