by Ben Hogwood Picture of the Naala Badu building (c) Iwan Baan

What’s the story?

Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds has its roots in an invitation by Jonathan Wilson, curator of the Art Gallery of NSW. He commissioned Lawrence English to create a sound environment reflecting on the Naala Badu building.

English responded with what is described as ‘an atmospheric tint to visitors walking through the building throughout the year following its opening.

For his source material, English drew on artists ‘who have also operated in the orbit of the Art Gallery of NSW. These include Amby Downs, Chris Abrahams, Chuck Johnson, Claire Rousay, Dean Hurley, Jim O’Rourke, JW Paton, Madeleine Cocolas, Norman Westberg, Stephen Vitiello and Vanessa Tomlinson.

English invited the musicians to contribute to two long-form pieces, bringing them together in a continuous whole, which retains an improvisatory spirit. He then added the following note to the album:

“Place is an evolving, subjective experience of space. Spaces hold the opportunity for place, which we create moment to moment, shaped by our ways of sense-making. 
 
Whilst the architectural and material features of space might remain somewhat constant, the people, objects, atmospheres, and encounters that fill them are forever collapsing into memory.”

What’s the music like?

Sometimes installation pieces only work in the environment for which they were designed, but that is not the case here – this music works far beyond the confines of the Naala Badu building (above).

With his associates, Lawrence English has fashioned a rather beautiful stretch of music that works beautifully as a piece of immersive ambience. It is best enjoyed in one stretch, although the album is helpfully split into sections when downloaded.

Initially a sonorous, mid-range piano spins slow but thoughtful lines over held drones that shift very slowly, surrounded by thick ambience. Yet by section V, the music has blossomed in colour, to this listener a rich, dark blue. The mood shifts during VI, a woolly backdrop supporting a fresher, cooler piano line, but then VII shifts to a lighter outlook before becoming more discordant. Ultimately a peaceful conclusion is found in VIII, the final section.

Does it all work?

It does – though if listening on headphones, be sure you have little noise around you, for sometimes the mid-range frequencies can be compromised.

Is it recommended?

It is – Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds is an instinctive but immersive piece, greater than the sum of its parts. It is music that refuses to rush, taking its own sweet time – a valuable commodity in today’s hectic world.

For fans of… Loscil, Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Stars Of The Lid

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,446 – Saturday 15 February 2025