Recorded over a span of six years, ‘Double Exposure’ is a work of softness, subtlety and nuance that incorporates elements of ambience and found sound. The title refers to the fact that all of the pieces have been previously released on various compilations and elsewhere, including TV commissions and installation pieces, but are now appearing for the first time in sequence to form an album proper. However, there’s also an analogue feel to the recordings, in which a certain scratchiness and fading creates the impression of a pre-used tape, or a double-exposed piece of film.
And, just as photographs capture a specific place at a certain time, so the 12 compositions on ‘Double Exposure’ are responses to locations and events. From the site-specific installation ‘The Mill – City of Dreams’ that was exhibited in a deserted weaving mill in Bradford to the 20-minute ‘Inner Space Memorial’ inspired by the death of JG Ballard, Schaefer demonstrates an attunement with his environment and surroundings, and while the responses to them are personal, it’s easy to appreciate them on a purely ambient, musical level. ‘Asleep at the Wheel’ is a soundrack – in the literal sense to an installation that presented a rather Ballardian social critique of cars and consumerism, and is quite different from the rest of the album.
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Spread over four sides and with a running time of one hour and forty-three minutes, it’s a vastly expansive work. It’s also a work that’s richly evocative and meticulously assembled.
Janek Schaefer Online
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