by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The story behind this remarkable album is best read through quotes from the MINING Bandcamp site and press release, as it bears repeating.

“Chichester West Pole Beacon, also known as Chimet, is a comprehensive weather information system recording conditions in Hayling Bay, West Sussex, both in real-time and historically. Located at 50° 45′.45 N, 00° 56′.59 W, approximately one mile from the entrance to Chichester Harbour, the instrumentation on Chimet records data including air and water temperature; barometric pressure; wind speed and direction; water depth; wave height, period and frequency; and time of day.

Over a period of seven days in October 2017, the devastating Atlantic Hurricane Ophelia fed straight into another weather event, known as Storm Brian in the UK. MINING mapped the data from this storm onto various musical values and parameters, including harmonic range, pitch, density and volume – resulting in a continuous piece of electronic sound design that directly traces the contours of the two storm systems. After several iterations, improvised instrumental performances were added on piano, cello and synthesiser.

The album was created using 2,016 sampled data streams, collected every five minutes between 0030 on October 16th 2017 and 0025 on the 23rd, translating seven days of information into 67 minutes and 12 seconds of detailed and evolving music. With mother nature orchestrating the piece, she is joined by intuitive and powerful improvisations on piano, cello and synthesiser. The recording captures the sense of building expectation and tension, the dropping air pressure, the rising winds, the interlocking storm systems and the serene aftermath. The shifts are seamless, monumental and open to the elements.”

MINING was conceived by Craig Kirkpatrick-Whitby, with sound design and programming from PJ Davy. The improvised contributions on piano, cello and Lintronics are all made by Matthew Bourne.

What’s the music like?

Intense, yet ambient at the same time. The circumstances of composition mean that Chimet is certainly best heard as an uninterrupted stream (pun intended), describing the weather activity in remarkable detail.

Yet the crowning achievement of this project is that in their work together, Craig, PJ and Matthew have made something that has deep emotional content. The sound ‘beds’ are effectively drones, slowly shifting in deep colours, over which Bourne is able to work some carefully thought improvisation.

Ophelia develops very slowly, over a quarter of an hour, but there is something immediately ominous about its approach. The synthesizers pile up, with the occasional intervention from the piano – with layers of notes in swirling harmony, before they gradually retreat. Petrichor poses more of an initial threat, the foreboding low synth sounds presenting a dark outlook, before the relative calm of Latent – a slow piano meditation – dispels the worry.

The central section starts with a piece depicting Chimet itself, the remoteness of the open water apparent in Bourne’s distant musings on the piano. Then, with Arise, a series of long cello notes provide a swell in the texture, moving seamlessly into the elongated Force 10 Pts. 1 & 2. Here the held notes feel bleaker, until the inexorable build that piles them up towards the sky, a regular ticking holding everything in place. There is a strong sense of the ravaged seas, of craft blown this way and that, but also Chimet standing tall throughout.

The epilogue, Debris, has a synthesizer motif depicting the aftermath, with matter falling back to earth and settling, the long note underneath held until it passes from audible range.

Does it all work?

It does. For such incredibly slow music to maintain this level of intensity is remarkable indeed, something few artists can achieve. The melodies may be minimal, but getting caught up in the sweep of the extended piece is inevitable.

Is it recommended?

It is – a proper musical experience that should be played from start to finish, so the listener can get the whole awe-inspiring weather events recreated in their own environment.

For fans of… Loscil, Stars of the Lid, Biosphere

Listen and Buy

Published post no.2,118 – Friday 15 March 2024