MATT SHOEMAKER – Isolated Agent / Stranded Behavior

Elevator Bath

Limited edition (233 copies) of a picture disc by a sound artist whose output I’m not completely familiar with; however, the previous labels with which he’s released his stuff (Trente Oiseaux, Mystery Sea, Twenty Hertz and Crouton) spell “seriousness” from the beginning. This positive introductory vibe is repaid by the quality of the music, which – though not very distant from the “classic droning” schemes typical of this and other imprints – is well constructed and organized. Shoemaker is mainly known for the use of field recordings, even if they’re only minimally employed in this occasion. The essence of these two tracks revolves around a gradual development of minimal parts that may start alone or in superimposition with others but, as the time elapses, form a thick tissue made of interweaving components – mostly electronically generated and essentially blurred – which becomes quite influential, intimidating at times. When one lacks words to set a record in a file according to commonly accepted general coordinates, that’s a good sign. This is a case in point: you just intuit that the depth is there, that those frequencies work silently, and that certain strange resonances are designed to make us think about matters that usually are (voluntarily?) overlooked. Not a shallow painkiller, then; more a memento of significant life issues. And it doesn’t want to know of being classified.