On Fear Of The Object (SOFA MUSIC SOFA 587 / TRUE BLANKING 001), we’ve got the outputs from a lengthy three-year project when the American percussionist Chris Cogburn got together with the art-video maker Kjell Bjørgeengen. As sound art, it’s something to do with a clash of frequencies – physical objects tending to produce “wild” or uncontrollable sounds as they vibrate, and sine tones producing something more precise, capable of conforming with the precepts of Just Intonation. Add to this the video element – converting sounds into video images through the processing of electrical voltage – and the plan starts to take shape. Extra improvising musicians joined the procession along the way and became camp followers, namely Ingar Zach, Aimee Therior-Ramos, Juan Garcia and Judith Hamann – fine musicians all. Ingar Zach seems very apposite for this work, as he’s often been known to put a speaker on top of his drum kit and produce vibrations from that set-up.
Between 2017 and 2019, these players (in assorted combinations) made recordings in Madrid, Mexico City, and Oslo. Four CDs of worthless, empty, slow drones are the net result. I get the idea about “physical objects in dialogue with architectural space”, but none of the sounds on Fear Of The Object convey it successfully. What mostly comes over is how one-dimensional and closed-off the material is, despite the changes of locations and the span of years; it seems almost entirely disconnected from the realities of the physical world that it’s purporting to tell us about. This dreary release has the added cheek to present itself as a limited edition art object in a box, with plain grey sleeves and embossed typography. From 21 March 2023.