invisible birds

yannick dauby, john grzinich, murmer
lind, raud, aastaajad

ib005 - 2 cd set - 2012
edition of five hundred and nine

invisible birds is very proud to announce the release of lind, raud, aastaajad, a 2 cd set of estonian recordings
from three masters : yannick dauby, john grzinich, and murmer.

disc 1 - yannick dauby : lind, raud - songs of birds and metal, recorded in Estonia in 2007.

disc 2 - yannick daubyy, john grzinich, and murmer : aastaajad - field recordings by john grzinich and murmer,
electronic sounds by yannick dauby.
two tracks composed by john grzinich, two tracks composed by patrick mcginley (aka murmer).

yannick dauby mentions in his notes that, while in estonia, john grzinich guided him through some of his most favorite
recording locations. it is in these locations where he feels the artist "becomes an instrument for the landscape".

the lind, raud, aastaajad recordings perfectly evoke the connection these three artists have to the landscape. in
specified locations and seasons, they compose rich sounds from birds, metal, rain, snow, footsteps, melodious wind,
water trickles, and more. the recordings subtly ensconce the listener in a sublime and poetic "view" of the landscape
transforming itself.

reviews:

aquarius records

if anything, the estonian countryside is quiet. the clockwork schedule of the network of rural buses and the cackle
of a black swan racing high above the trees is about all that you'll hear. i (jim) had the pleasure of experiencing
this estonian quietude a few years back, and i have to say that yannick dauby's collection of field recordings is way
more active than any i actually encountered. estonia is known for its avian diversity, although when i was there
during the brief transition from summer into winter (literally, three weeks!), the birds had all flown south... so
dauby must have been there in later spring or summertime as he does capture a number of chittering sounds from those
birds passing through from russia and finland to southern europe and north africa (or vice versa). between these avian
recordings, dauby documents another common denizen of the estonian countryside - the giant chunks of metal dumped un-
ceremoniously by the soviet agricultural industry. even without much wind, these abandoned grain silos and oil tanks
resonate with thick rumblings and subtle overtones, which dauby dutifully records with contact microphones. these
thrumming drones recall the alan lamb wire recordings as much as they do thomas köner's deep gong recordings.

disc one of this two disc set features dauby's "songs for birds and metal" while the second features reworkings of dauby's
source material by john grzinich and murmer (aka patrick mcgingley), both of whom have exceptional catalogues of electro-
organic compositions based often on phonography. grzinich's two lengthy pieces are quieter and more subtle, focusing on
the patter of dripping water and melting ice with flickering drones and harmonics forming arctic halos around those aquatic
textures. the two murmer tracks intensify things comparatively against grzinich's lowercase work, with thick drones amassed
around what sounds like somebody trekking through the deep snow. those coleclough / köner drones manifest ominous black
clouds and unsettled vibes, not heard elsewhere on the album and turning that estonian quiet into something haunting. all in
all, a magnificent piece of manipulated field recording and sound ecology.

~ jim haynes

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vital weekly

following last weeks yannick dauby, here is more from him. before moving to taipei, he was in estonia for a while, which
made him friends with john grzinich and patrick mcginley, also known as murmer. if i understand this double CD right,
then one side as field recordings by dauby, mostly consisting of birds and metal, while the second CD has two pieces each
by grzinich and mcginely using their own field recordings and electronic sounds by dauby. what exactly was the reason to
combine this, otherwise then the omni-presence of dauby, i am not sure. the first CD is quite nice, if not a bit long
for it lasts just over an hour. throughout the pieces which just have birds sounds are bit shorter and the metal pieces
are (considerable) longer. don't except some neubauten like banging, but rather rusty objects floating neatly in the wind,
calm and peaceful. nice but, as said, there is overlap in this sound material.

so the second CD might be a rework of the sound material from dauby, but perhaps also a mixture of their own sounds, along
with electronic sounds delivered by dauby. perhaps if we look at this from a purely musical perspective this is the more
interesting of the two CDs, unless of course you look for pure field recordings. the first CD is more like a great exercise
in recording environmental sounds whereas on the second these pure field recordings are embedded in electronics, usually of
a more lenghty and sustaining kind. of the two composers i think i preferred the two compositions by grzinich. murmer's
pieces are more simple, like layering various sound events together (water, walking, drones), but seem to miss out a bit
on that added value. grzinich's pieces have exactly that value, while it seems he either adds a fine amount of processing
to the field recordings, or simply uses more layers of similar sounds to get more out of it. but throughout, overall, i
think this whole package is one that is very nice. there is lots of explore here and no doubt even useful stuff for djs of
a more experimental nature (pun intended).

~ frans de waard

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dusted magazine

while perhaps still regarded by the masses as strictly for the movies, field recording, or phonography - the practice of using
microphones to record an environment outside of the usual studio and concert settings - has come a long way in breaking predictable
ties to the film industry, while also distancing itself from the back alley ethno-music documentation that also tends to fall
under the same identifier.

this gaining autonomy, as i see it, is a result of a multi-faceted propulsion of artists and independent organizations bringing
field recording to the fore. there's the field reporter blog, that advocates for the emotional potency of phonographic work through
detailed reviews and historical insight. radio shows such as framework, on resonance 104.4fm out of london, focus on field recording
and its use in composition, inviting the world to open their ears and listen. finally, artists like chris watson, whose close work
with the BBC, has without a doubt done much in putting phonography on the map.

while chris watson's name has somewhat become synonymous with contemporary field recording practice, the three artists featured on
lind, raud, astaajad - yannick dauby, john grzinich, and patrick mcginley (a.k.a. murmer) - have certainly proven their own adeptness
at capturing sounds from environments that span the globe.

the first of this two-disc set is a collection of recordings from estonia by dauby, capturing the sounds of birds and metal.
by dauby's accounts, and those of john grzinich - who accompanied dauby through the countryside - estonia is a largely quiet and empty
place; dauby even describes it as a "wide open mental space," attesting to the difficulties a sound hunter is likely to encounter there.
despite this, dauby presents over an hour's worth of recordings that more or less alternate between bird songs and contact microphone
recordings of metal structures being activated by wind. cleverly, the bird recordings rarely breach three minutes in length, so as to
not exhaust their brilliance, and to act as melodic counterparts to the much longer metallic drones.

the second disc of this set presents two tracks each by murmer and grzinich, featuring electronic sound accompaniment by dauby.
while dauby's stand-alone recordings on the first disc were representationally honest - in the sense that they were very true to the
sounds one might actually hear if placed in such an environment - disc two's focus is on the use of field recording in a processed
composition, reinterpreting dauby's "snapshot" take on the form.

the compositions aren't rendered beyond interpretation of the source material, though. sounds like flowing water, buzzing flies,
footsteps in snow, and birds are clearly heard amid the lush drone, which acts as the pulse to these pieces. dauby's presence here is
understated until the closing moments of "kevad," where amassing electronic overtones crescendo into one of the finer moments of the
album.

there isn't any new field recording ground being broken on lind, raud, aastaajad. but the disc showcases what these three artists strive

~ adrian dziewanski

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the field reporter

spring is floating in the air. one can feel it, our bodies know it, and there's probably no better time to creep into "lind, raud,
aastaajad", an ensemble of site-specific field recordings captured around 2007 in selected loci of appealing estonia by yannick dauby
talked into by patrick mcginley (murmer) and personally guided by john grzinich.
needless to say things are rather starting auspiciously.

estonian landscapes seem to exude a pristine quality, largely left unpolluted by the bane of noise parasites infiltrating every corner
of our cities & suburbs

so, what we have on disc 1, are lively luminous birds songs spreading in this postcard alike baltic panorama, isolated slices of life
shining in their full splendor

more than ever here, the artist's ego fades away, and his main role is the one of being a simple transmitter, yannick lends us his sharp
ears, and freezes moments of precious reality into condensed frames of radiant beauty

birds songs alternate with metal songs coming from fences and strings, improvised musical mobiles self playing along the vibrating air,
and the wind modulations

these metallic chorals appear like the last witnesses of human activity, though much in symbiosis with the pure birds songs in a way

all pieces conjure together a true haven of peace, something cruelly missing from our hectic, feverish environments

an opportunity to slow down, if only for a while, and observe what the world has to offer to the one who is not in a perpetual hurry

it just cries out also: "life is music, music is life"

in the same breath, "raud 07.07.03 laaksare", the penultimate clanging, resonating piece seems like a visceral call to open our ownwindows, and listen for ourselves

disc 2 are reappropriations of dauby's material respectively honed by john with "sugis" & "kevad", and assembled by murmer for "talv" &
"suvi". all these compositions have been enhanced with yannick dauby's delicate electronic sounds mostly forming a skeleton of circular/
spiraling motifs inviting to contemplation

"sugis" is the wind talking, and crows conspiring against it. and further, gentle rain and slight undefined household and outdoor
manipulation of objects. perhaps a slow awakening from a winter retreat

"talv" slackens chosen sequences of crunching sounds centered on the act of walking, considering them at various distances from the
microphone. friction, physical contact with the earth till going back to the "home sweet home" refuge, and letting ourselves be lulled to
the reassuring fire crackle

"kevad" distills small drops, in an almost silent empty church like space, and then throws us in a glade ringing again with different
interlaced birds songs

"suvi" begins with water flowing, always the same, yet always different, and the buzzing of insects at various speeds. all in unison with
the blooming, ever changing vegetation. ending with the rustle of leaves, and soft lapping & dripping

internalization of the landscape and its morphings, ele-mental analogy, "lind, raud, aastaajad" cleaving perfectly to invisible birds'
credo decline like three magic words to be granted an access to the healing dimensions of Nature

not so far in intent maybe from alio die's droning mantras

~ daniel crokaert

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maeror3

having visited estonia in 2007, yannick dauby was really inspired by nature of that country, its flavor. john grzinich, an american residing here,
performed the role of a guide, showing yannick untouched locations, where one might not only get a breath of fresh air and take a couple of
pictures for memories, but also record pure, indigenous sounds of these locales (which is a lot more logical, considering the kind of activities
of these men).
the first disc of the album is all pure "field recordings", acquired during this journey. the spectrum of dauby's interests in this particular
case is narrow: "simply" bird voices and sounds of metallic objects, rocked by the wind or the composer's hand. birds receive the largest portion
of the disc, but the compositions of feathered creatures are much shorter in duration, which albeit does not prevent them from making a rather
splendid impression. listening to twitterings and chirpings of forest inhabitants one imagines sunny days when the summer (and this did occur in
june) is in full blossom, the sun carressing you with its tender, not yet scorching warmth, the grass beneath your feet is shimmering, awashed
with rains. put shortly, pure bliss. estonian birds might hardly be specifically different from their russian, polish or german counterparts in
their desire to rejoice and sport an active living, therefore the material sounds rather universally. as do the "iron" tracks, yet the the latter
sound universally on another plane, their own. apparently, those were pipes and iron sheets, so, flying into their dark insides and wandering their
curves, the wind creates a transfixing rumble, giving birth to ambiences of practically cosmic scales (especially mighty is the sound of raud 07.06.10
latvian border: one is even curious as to which dimensions latvia (sic!) borderlines in these places). at times, the author assists the steel objects
to fully unravel, banging them with other metallic debris and fixating the resounding, slowly disolving echo - the method is, of course, old yet
effective, and one understands this particularly well when noticing the way these penetrating vibraions send shivers up the spinal chord.

the second CD is created by yannick based on field recordings sent to him by grzinich and patrick mcginley (murmer). in john's case, summer is ending,
giving way to something not entirely auspicious - stern winds blowing, showers clattering against the roof, crows crying scarily, strange noises
slowly percolating the iron reverberations. but, even the environment has become more severe, this in no way cancels out its beauty - though the long
night walks, accompanied only by bonfire crackle and leaves rustling beneath one's feet, lead you to mysterious places, from which myriads of cold
winter constellations are clearly visible.

mcginley favors calmer, even pastoral sketches. he might sit amidst a green field or walks by a channel of a murmury brook, with each second marveling
at the beauty and harmony of nature. in all four instances yannick does not heavily transform the source material, simply adding a soft, deep,
penetrating rumble (not unlike fabio orsy), which widens the space, smoothening noise nuancesand adding some sort of other-worldliness, making a
susceptable individual short on breath (while in case of lesser impressionabilty, one's eyelids might shut for a minutre or two).

afficionados of field recordings and organic ambient should necessarily familiarize themselves with the album. a good, qualitative work, unraveling an
entire world for its listeners. and its beauty captivates.

~ sergey oreshkin (thanks to sergei kleyn for translating)

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drone records

fascinating, mysterious field-recordings by yannick dauby made in estonia 2007 ("songs of birds & metal") on CD 1, long tracks by murmur & john grzinich
with additional electronics by dauby on CD 2 - sublime & poetic drones full of details - "the artist becomes an instrument for the landscape"... highly
recommended for any field recording fan !! edition of 509 copies in nice 6-panel double-digipack

~ stefan knappe