Label: Touch

重鎮フィールドレコーディストChris Watsonの3年ぶりのフィジカル新作はPhilip Jeckの遺作!!80年代初頭より音制作を開始、英Touch筆頭の作家であり、God RecordsやSub Rosaからも音源を発表、惜しくも2022年に他界した大ベテラン音楽家Philip Jeck。生前Chris Watsonと共に制作しそのままになっていたという遺作[Oxmardyke]が作品化。Chris Watsonが何度も足を運び録音を繰り返した、ヨークシャーはイーストライディングにある町ブラフの環境音を素材としたスケールのデカい音響アンビエントであり、この地域の古代の歴史や当時の音、リズムなどをイメージし仕上げたというもの。生々しい素材音をダイレクトに使い絶妙な風景のモーフィングを繰り返す、たひたすらにカッコイイ音像。DVDスタイルの長方形パッケージ。



Philip’s laugh was infectious. Our conversations would usually begin with exchanges around the enthusiasm we had for each other’s work and the respect we shared for other Touch artists. However, as we were most likely to have met over drinks at the Philharmonic Dining Rooms in Liverpool the evening would gradually dissolve into convivial disarray. What did emerge from these soirées over recent years was a desire to find ways and means for us to collaborate at a place where our ideas converged.

In 2017 I was recording along the north bank of the Humber estuary and one morning driving back from Faxfleet I was stopped at the Oxmardyke rail crossing. The gates were down. After setting up a microphone array by the tracks for a passing freight train the signalman shouted an invitation to climb up into the gate box to make some more recordings.

Over the following weeks I made several return trips to Oxmardyke and gathered a broad palette of recordings. I discussed the sounds, stories and history of the site with Philip after a show and we were both excited by the potential of making a work together.

Philip was drawn to the ancient history of the area from 6th century Anglo Saxon times to the Knights Templar and how the sounds, rhythms and textures from those periods may still inhabit the contemporary landscape. My thoughts took inspiration from ‘The Signalman’ by Charles Dickens and the painting ‘Rain, Steam and Speed’ by Joseph Turner. We agreed to share ideas and exchange tracks.

Oxmardyke gate box has now passed into history

It was only when Mike Harding at Touch informed me of Philip’s condition that we began a final exchange of pieces and I sincerely hope that my contributions may frame Philip’s exceptional work.

Chris Watson August 2022