Peebles, Sarah – “Insect Groove ” – [Cycling 74]

2002 release from Canadian composer and left-brainy artist,
Sarah Peebles. Field recordings awash more in manipulation
than in rivulets and rustic residue. “The Curse of Border
Vacuums” works in Yasunao Tone-like leaps of samples, so it
is the most unnatural, albeit not denatured, cut. The slow
motion rubberband-bend (courtesy the mighty Jin Hi Kim’s
komundo) on “Insect Groove” is quite beckoning, it ends up
running with Peebles trickling in a stream. On “Higurashi in
Yamanashi” that stream sample flows on over into digitized
lakebirds caught in feedback nets. I suspect the first
sonic track (“Nocturnal Premonitions” after a data track of
patches and pdf) is the source material for Peebles’
processing. “White Powder/The Spiders” with David Toop’s
reading as insect ambassador was the stand-out for me.
This album grows infinitely with focused listening, car
radio drive-by listening will undermine the determined
indeterminate charm here, much as Peebles’ beloved pristine
forests are vanishing.

-Thurston Hunger