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CD
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HH 2140742CD
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2015 release. Cycle~ 440 are the London-via-Perth duo of Sam Gillies and Kevin Penkin. Their semi-improvisational electro-acoustic explorations fuse Kevin's brooding acoustic piano with Sam's fractured laptop sampling and processing to create soundscapes of alternately extreme fragility and overwhelming density. Both Penkin and Gillies are former students of Australian sound artist, composer and graphic score exponent Cat Hope. The Topography of Ascending Frameworks marks the final installment of the Constructions Trilogy; a longform conceptual recording project that explored a large scale idea-based framework to guide improvised composition. The trilogy began in 2011 with The Geography of Collapsing Structures, a study of deconstructive forces as applied to composition. In 2012, Cycle~ 440 recorded The Cartography Of Shifting Planes, an exploration of the musical potential of the line and of constant variation through minimal gestures. Finally, 2015's The Topography Of Ascending Frameworks explores the power of growth, utilizing musical structures characterized by excessive development and departure. The Topography of Ascending Frameworks boasts a strikingly scientific title, but it is by no means a cold or clinical listen. It ticks forward with quiet, sanguine momentum, bubbles under its still surface, surges with warped strands of noise pitted against contemplative piano chords and seethes with ominous drones and unsettling oscillations. Every moment exudes a unique blend of granular detail and zoomed-out expansiveness. Cycle~ 440 are winners of the 2013 WAM Experimental Song of the Year award for "So We Beat On, Boats Against The Current". Deluxe CD; limited edition.
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