Alexandra Spence — a veil, the sea

Alexandra Spence is a sound artist from Australia and her latest release, a veil, the sea, feels like it’s part of a larger project, maybe research-based, but it’s not entirely clear. Like many a sound enthusiast, she has been lured by the ocean’s siren song, using the liquid medium to explore both technical immersion and topical relevance (ecological consciousness is a strong backdrop).

Tape loops have been submerged in seawater, seaborne vessels were mic’d, and partial lists of sea-related terminology, like microplastics, are read aloud. This last element – Spence’s voice, sometimes front and centre – makes the release feel rather out of place among other leftfield sound works. 

While the voice itself is not necessarily a deal-breaker, the plaintive delivery is, like a nature documentary or video installation. It’s hard to figure out exactly where Spence is coming from, with the tinge of earnestness a bit too cloying to be entirely heartfelt. And the boilerplate water sounds do little to make the case for the release’s novelty, if that is still a criterion of interest. Split into two tracks, the progression and added layering of each is nearly indistinguishable from the other, and while Spence carefully laid out the instruments involved, the materiality of each is lost beneath its humdrum uses.

I couldn’t help but feel that there was a video or film missing from the work, a veil, the sea, the soundtrack to an ethnology of the sea, whatever that might be. As a standalone release, there is little new or compelling, and the source material is something that could be found in other water-related pieces, from Luc Ferrari’s Presque rien to Jal tarang.