other music:

Resembling that state you're in when you fall asleep with the TV on best describes the debut release from Canadian electronic artist Mark Templeton. You know, that blissful, half out of it feeling one gets as dreamland is a mere fraction of a moment away but that late night infomercial keeps you stirring. Templeton uses his laptop to compose songs out of snippets of people talking, static, chirping birds and a variety of acoustic instruments. Each starts with the pairing of a sampled sound or noise -- violin and rain on "Refrain From" and a single resonating note and the rifling through a kitchen drawer on "Amidst Things Uncontrolled." Like a free jazz composer, Templeton proceeds by introducing a crackling new tone or instrument as previous ones drop away, making for uncluttered arrangements that breathe.

What is most notable about Standing on a Hummingbird is the serene, pastoral beauty Templeton creates using fractured, stuttered samples via modern means. The poignant guitar and static duet on "Tentative Growth" delivers hope in its midsection thanks to the addition of a chorus of birds while sparkles of static dance around unedited guitar on "Difficult To Light." This inaugural release from the new (New York City) label Anticipate Recordings is a good reason to look northward for some prime "electro-acoustic" music. [CC] (Released 2007)

March 2007