Nite Lite – Megrez

Phonography, or field recording, could perhaps be imagined as a sort of spectrum. At one extreme are the documentarists, who strive to capture, with the utmost fidelity, the sounds of things as they are ‘in real life’; at the opposite end sit those who use recorded sounds simply as materials for expanding their sonic palette, with no concern for fidelity or recognisability. Between these two poles, however, stretches a wide and ambiguous middle ground, and much of the recent music that I find interesting or engaging happens here. “Megrez”, the new release on Desire Path Recordings from Portland-based duo Philip and Myste French, falls into this uncertain in-between region, though it disappears into the foliage well before we get to see where exactly it lands.