Moniek Darge Sounds of Sacred Places cd

cd
2011/1987/1984-87
new
Field recordings by Darge, who gets some singularly bleak atmospheres out of her chosen spots. She records a square in a poor section of a Belgian town, next to the nuclear power plant which hums alluringly in the background. One recording has rain on wood, with Darge grunting & crying into a larynx-microphone (invented in WWII - I think by Germans- so that radio operators could talk & be heard even though there were bombs going off all around). There are also the bell towers of a couple of churches, including one installation where the bells were fitted with contact microphones & beat by hand with mallets. She also overlaps recordings of local artists talking about what they see in the bell towers. The speakers include David Moss, Frank Venaille, John King & Charlie Morrow, who intone in French, English & Dutch over a background of cooing & whistling birds. Although you could argue that this record is the paragigm Graham Lambkin's been using since he started recording, it's those quiet & halting pauses by David Moss that most obviously mark this as perfect for a rerelease on Kye. Tracklisting: Turkish Square, Abbey Sounds, Rain, Solstice Sun, Three Sunbeams.