UGN / MAT

Chronique

UGN/MAT was released in conjunction with a retrospective exhibition of Swedish conceptual artist Leif Elggren's work presented in Fall 2000 at Färgfabriken (Stockholm, Sweden). The CD contains two pieces recorded in the 1980s for use in stage performances (the middle track "60 Seconds of Silence for Per Jonsson" is actually just that). "UGN" ("Oven," 25 minutes), recorded in December 1984, was first released in 1986 as a 12" by Radium. The piece opens on very low bubbling noise, breaking free only three and a half minutes later. A shroud of low-frequency noise is punctuated by what sounds like a carpenter working (hammering nails in wood, particularly), with occasional electronic sounds cutting through. An opera excerpt intrudes for a brief moment ten minutes before the end and the shroud is replaced by dense and busy noise at minus six minutes that will slowly fade out, leaving the aforementioned opera faintly heard in the distance. "MAT" ("Food," 35 minutes) is closer to the dynamics of electroacoustic works, although it unfolds very slowly. Both pieces have complex trance-inducing walls of sound, but require time and openness to be appreciated.

© François Couture /TiVo