“Spectral Terrace” and “Lost Time in a Lost Place” are
suggestive track titles, aren’t they? Makes me think that old Matthew Atkins is
somehow digging up old memories here, mining his subconscious for things
forgotten, or at least misfiled or mislabeled somewhere in his memory bank.
Throughout his Spectral Terrace tape,
he rummages and uncovers, sitting in the middle of a pile of stuff he pulled
out of drawers in order to organize them better. Maybe get rid of some stuff he
doesn’t need anymore.
Maybe I’m just reading into it the fact that I’m about
to clean out my garage, and it’s a daunting prospect.
Let’s not get too hung up on my fears or phobias
(although I did find a black widow in there once) and circle back around to the
work Atkins is doing here. Not shy about his process, he lists “cymbals, singing bowl, snare drum, brushes, contact mics,
motors, monotron delay and computer software” as his sound
sources. Each one takes on a timbral focus at times, and all of them flurry
around each other as Atkins progresses. Knowing this, it’s not hard to figure
out what this is like: a studious interpretation of trying to understand what’s
gone before you and how to illuminate that for present and future use and
understanding. Time to rummage through the old brain files a little more.
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