Hardwick / Jørgensen – Split

Limited edition vinyl LP packaged in a full colour matt sleeve…

Nottingham-based guitarist and owner of Low Point, Gareth Hardwick, contributes a single nineteen-minute piece which is quite possibly his most fully realised and dynamic work to date. Sixteenth February Twenty Twelve sees Hardwick continuing his mission to explore and distort the pre-conceived notions as to what an electric guitar can sound like, while embellishing and developing his signature long-form drone techniques. The resulting track is a constantly shifting progression of deceptively complex melodies and phrases that are at once subtle and minimalistic, while enveloping the listener in an ever-evolving wash of sounds, textures and gently percussive elements. Contained within the piece are moments that are reminiscent of the early electronic experimentation of Klaus Schultz and Phaedra-era Tangerine Dream. Yet it avoids any form of misty-eyed nostalgia by maintaining an individuality that leaves one able to discover new and hitherto uncharted sonic territories, allowing the mind to wander freely while still remaining firmly rooted in the here and now.

P Jørgensen, from Copenhagen, Denmark, is a composer, musician and sound artist whose work spans film, theatre and music ensemble. Jørgensen presents Four Pieces For Moreschi – a suite of four decidedly different pieces of processed musical interludes and field recordings. Leaning almost towards a musique concrète sound, Jørgensen’s work here is comprised of four very distinct parts of a larger whole. Beginning with dense, almost engine- like sheets of sound, Four Pieces could almost be some kind of sentient machine that organically grows as it progresses over time. Glassy and bell-like textures move into breathy and atmospheric zones, finally giving in to gentle and subdued melodies – a mere whisper of what came before and all the while maintaining a textural fragility which keeps the listener holding ones breath in anticipation of what is to come.

Taken as a whole, this release is something of a juxtaposition – a collection that sounds that it may have been born both of nature and of artifice. A reflection of our times perhaps, or the soundtrack to a future that has yet to be written. Either way, it is a beautifully satisfying record and one which demands repeated and uninterrupted listening.