Marcus Fischer – Collected Dust

I enjoy listening to a wide range of music, but it’s rare that I come across something that completely changes my understanding of how music can be made and listened to. One such occasion was the first time I heard Marcus Fischer’s album “Monocoastal”, back in 2010, so to say that I was looking forward to his new release for Tench would be somewhat of an understatement. “Collected Dust” brings together several pieces made by Fischer for his blog project, “Dust Breeding”, where every day for a year he posted something he had created that day. The album is far from a collection of quick sketches, however: after being selected by label owner M. Ostermeier, each piece was extensively worked on, and the results show all the careful attention to detail that characterises Fischer’s music.

Fischer makes use of a wide range of acoustic and electronic instruments, some of which he crafted himself, along with a variety of field recordings. What struck me most strongly when I first heard “Monocoastal”, however, was the way in which systems of chance are allowed to partly determine the distribution of sounds within a given piece. (‘System of chance’ sounds suspiciously like an oxymoron, but I intend it to mean chance occurring within a field constrained by certain rules or choices. For example, the roll of dice is constrained by the number of sides on each die, the mechanics governing how far they can roll, etc.) The result is that everything that is heard happens as a surprise – there is no listening on autopilot here. The listener becomes more aware than usual of his or her own act of listening, of how the listening mind still works to recognise patterns, establish series, and gauge depth and height and width. This is listening as a kind of making sense – not passive consumption, but an active, creative enjoyment, a form of play.

If this sounds a little too dry and intellectual, then it must be noted that intellectual activity can in no way be segregated from emotional response – to experience a feeling and to work through a problem are two aspects of the same movement. My own emotional response to Fischer’s music is perhaps related to the way in which the use of chance gives it a sense of precariousness and liminality, of balancing on the edge of existing – as if it could have easily happened otherwise, or not happened at all. This brings it into the same domain as the flash of remembered image and the snatch of dream. Fischer’s music is a sky for sudden, quiet fireworks: after the choice is made to light the touchpaper, there is the straining to see, the uncertain watching and waiting for chemicals to react. This combination of deliberate design and unpredictability, of attention to detail and openness to contingency, is beautiful because it is mimesis – it is like the experience of being alive.

To my ears the guitar and synth ambiences used in “Collected Dust” are thicker and warmer than those of “Monocoastal”, bringing it closer to the lush sounds of previous release “Arctic/Antarctic”. Though all is serene and restrained on the surface, all manner of clicks, chimes and scratches flicker and glimmer underneath. Rhythmic loops and fragments of melody rise to the top of the mix before slowly sinking down again, while the tight surges of “Wires on Carpet” – a field of midnight orchids blooming one after the other in rapid succession – may well be one of the most sublime sounds you’ll hear all year.  This album easily matches the standards set by its predecessors, and confirms Fischer’s reputation as one of the most innovative and thought-provoking artists on the experimental ambient scene. Another excellent release from Tench!

Pre – orders available now through Tench and Stashed Goods

- Nathan Thomas for Fluid Radio

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www.dust.unrecnow.com