Carl Michael Von Hausswolf — Perhaps I Arrive- Music for Atatürk Airport , Ista

Perhaps I Arrive was original conceived in 1997 as a long form drone work to be played in Atatürk Airport in Istanbul- but the airport authorities rejected it so  Carl Michael came up with 4 more tracks that were used instead- this double disk set brings together the original un-used but superb piece and the four sneering easy-listening tracks that were excepted.

The first disk takes in the 61 minute original track Perhaps I arrive and what a fine, eerier and compelling example of drone craft it is. It’s built around building and revolving eerier drone/ sonic mumbles and this electro wiping/ noise hum like texture that keeps surfacing.  It  goes from sounding amped up eerier, to the lonely and  harmonic sound of wind ripping down the side of a buildings or through an abounded aircraft hanger, to odd mumbling like voices through walls, up to this alien wiping type sound as if ones been gentle slashed around the face by alien tentacles and the strange harmonics that might produce. Often you keep thinking the piece is going end as its tones all but disappear into the shadows but just when your sure it will  finally stop Carl Michael revolves it back into pale light once more. It’s such a pity it was never used as I think it would have really heightened the strange loneliness, reality and at times eeriness of airports. Simply put it’s a great haunting and effective piece of drone work.

The second disk offers up the four tracks entitled gate #1,2,3,4 and 43 minutes worth of music that was used and instead of drone works. Here Carl Michael offers up four slices of empty yet enjoyable bland easy listening or lift music. He just loops over again these bland, stripped tunes with annoying bass lines, cheesy organ elements, melodic yet lifeless piano wonderings and mock ethnic pop rhythms. If you though Zorn’s The gift was a slightly   sneering and a little sinister take on lounge, easy listening and the blandness of consumerisms wait to you hear this.  Carl Michael really heightens and enforces it’s bland and emptiness wonderfully. The press release describes it perfectly as ‘post-nuclear lounge music’.

The double digit-pak is designed by Akifumi Nakajima (Aube) and  tops  off the project with simplistic yet very effective pictures of the over crowed inside and outside of  Atatürk airport. Really two great but very different sonic statements about airports and ultimatly much of the modern worlds soulless, blandness and loneliness.