Mark Bokowiec — Visitations

With Mark Mark Bokowiec’s album Visitations we have something you don't often get: a surprisingly great dark-ambient release- with all the perfect ingredients you need for the genre. Unusually I was very impressed, even after a few play-backs of this seven tracks affair- through the artwork of the CDR does not really live up to my expectations and the music… but more on that later.

Personally, I've never heard of Mark Bokowiec before, but he has a most interesting background in the field of experimental music.  Here are a few interesting facts about the man:
-He is one of the founding members of Counterdance (an experimental industrial group founded 1978 in Bradford) where he built up most of the equipment and sound-devices for.
-Today he is a lecturer at the University of Huddersfield, where he runs, directs and performs the Electro-Acoustic Studio.
-Together with his wife Julie Wilson-Bokoviec he forms Bodycoder, for which he builds up some custom made gestural controllers they use for their live performances.
-Previously, he worked for the Psychology Department of the University of Leeds, where he conducted experiments with students under the influence of psychedelic substances, producing sound recordings.
-He was the Sound-Manager for the Huddersfied Contemporary Music Festival for over 25 years, working with artists such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Terry Riley, John Adams and Arvo Part.
-A very interesting anecdote for all you Throbbing Gristle fans is that after Genesis's "Gristlizer" was almost completely destroyed in a fire, he re-designed and built Genesis a replacement unit that he continues to use to this day!!! ( I only knew that the famous Gristlizer was built by Chris Carter ...  )
-Oh, and he wants to let us know, that his major musical influences include bands such as Faust, Can, Cabaret Voltaire, Tangerine Dream, Throbbing Gristle, Amon Duul II, This Heat and Tim Blake (Gong).

Now onto the release to hand Visitations:
As I’ve already mentioned, I was very pleasantly surprised by the beautiful soundscapes of this release. Here we have seven very interesting compositions, blending dark ambient drones with electro-acoustic material and concrete music. The album's raw sound palettes are largely based on field recordings (like bubbling thermal pools, geysers, waterfalls, shorelines and caves) from Iceland, Greece and Orkney. These sound sources were edited, subjected to various granular processes, combined with various synthesizer elements- then composed live in the studio with a set of custom user interfaces like the gestural controllers &  Bodycode performances.  It's a real visceral, sensual and epic journey through shimmering, ghostly and mythical sonic terrains.

My favourite tracks on the release are the first two. "Through a Mirror Speak Light Faded Characters"- the first track, starts with an ambient drone interlude, followed by drifts of amplified objects mixed with bell-like, clinking and beeping sounds- in time this evolves into some tone-shifting and phasing sequences with a silent rhythm in the background.  The second track "In the Cabinet Protozoa" is a beautiful intermezzo of quietly up-building sound structures, consisting of harp-like pointed drones, which are interrupted by a gong- and the return small rhythmic utilizing drones & amplified objects.

The third piece "Hveragerdi" takes you into the Icelandic landscape of hot volcanic springs and spurting geysers with its interrupted high-pitched tones, and a backdrop deep bass drone. Later the tracks shifts by  fading out into more subded drones, and melodic sequences of rattling bell-like sounds. This track has a slight industrial feel due to the use of  amplified metallic objects.

"A Barrow full of Watt", the fourth track has the most digital feeling. It starts with some piercing drones interacting with some synthetic brass bursts. At some points it almost drifts off into glitchy, squeaky interferences only to end in rushing field recordings of wood (?).

Sound-wise the most intense song is the 5th track called "Kirkjufell" which takes its inspiration from the high mountain on the Snaefellsnes peninsula. It builds in high tension with loud organ drones after a subdued start punctuated by short silences. With its nearly 19 minutes, the longest piece is "Consulting Oracles", a product of a visit to Delphi, Greece. On this recording you can perceive many different moods and as it seems that this track was originally composed as a piece for his Body coder system for a live-performance in Delphi under a full moon and a small earthquake.

Last track "Snaefellsnes" presents another wonderful soundscape that audibly marks the end of the story, and once again gives the listener the best moments of the album. A dark mythical experience in sound.

The only thing I have to complain about Vistitations is the very digital artwork. If I'm honest, I would have completely ignored this release if it would be displayed on a shelf in a record store. In my opinion, it's too new-age,  and doesn’t really capture the dark mood of the release- it would have been much better with dark b/w college art, with refers to the concept behind the release. But that’s just my take.. the artwork was created by Bokoviec wife, clearly they both  liked it.

I can absolutely recommend Visitations to dive into the vast, mystical landscapes of Iceland, and/or imagine the performance of a masked dancer in Delphi ...