Lawrence English — Approaching Nothing

Lawrence English is a composer, sound installation artist, record producer, and record label manager living in Australia. His works often explore the nature of perception. He has released solo albums on highly valued imprints like Crónica, Important, Line, Sirr, Touch, 12k, and his own label ROOM40. "Approaching Nothing" is his third album on Baskaru.

Approaching Nothing, a 30-minute piece delivers many audio puzzles, twists, and surprises.  Opening with the gorgeous sound of bells pealing out across the landscape this album explores the concept of relational listening as the birdsong and general hubbub begin you are quickly immersed into the life of the piece. From open countryside to town melee this release delivers a slow pass over a landscape and dwelling space.

As the album progresses you are met with such a variety of general sounds and experiences, the ones most of us have on a day to day basis: the sound of running water, chatter in a street, the noise of the land. It’s hard to place yourself outside of the album, as everything is so familiar. This is Musique Concrete at it’s finest. An aural fly over a familiar place.

English limited himself to just edits for the post production of this album, and it shows, the album mixes perfect as it moves from one area to the next. “Approaching Nothing” puts the listener in relation with a founding work in the field of phonography (or field recording) as laid down by Luc Ferrari in his piece "Presque Rien n°1" [Almost Nothing #1]. In fact this recording forms the very foundation and theory,  upon which English’s latest release builds.

Some days you just want to hear something that will take you to a memory of a place or time. And some days that memory is made by listening to a place or time. This album falls heavily into the later category. Excellent