Sietse van Erve, the artist behind Orphax, is no stranger to a bit of dabbling with the sonic toolbox. Until recently, he was known mainly for his slowly progressing, slightly noisy droneworks which usually had the texture of something that has seen the inside of a freezer for far too long. As I often lack the patience to sit out tediously drawn-out soundscapes, I was more than happy to discover that Orphax decided to lace the drones of his previous release “Drowning Within A Pool Of Trees”, with some choice field recordings.
Nevertheless, this change of pace felt somewhat hesitant and passive to me with regard to creating an effective rapport between icy drones and natural sounds. On “Turn Loose The Goose”, however, Orphax does go the extra mile to provide an array of sounds, natural or manipulated, for our ears to feast upon.
And feast upon it we must: a few minutes into the record, a sudden cacophony of squawks and screeches creates the impression that the artist ran headlong into a flock of geese with his microphones strapped on, just to record the sounds of geese scattering in startled confusion. The resulting cacophony breathes life and excitement into the record in such a way it sets the tone for the remainder of the release: occasionally gripping sound material from the outside world with gently curving drones forming the base on which the field recordings are allowed to shine through.
The fact that the "geesy sounds" originate from an artificial source (a vigorously rubbed plastic cup in fact) proves to me that Orphax has managed to come to grips with his sound material in such a way that he is able to produce music that sounds both organic and original. Furthermore, it also shows that he is not only keen to embrace new ideas but also to give these ideas his own personal touch. It certainly makes me watch out for other geese that Orphax might want to set loose on this world with a little more anticipation than before.
If you'd like to catch your own goose right now, you may want to give this release a well-deserved listen at:
http://orphax.bandcamp.com/track/turn-loose-the-goose
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