Rutger Hauser
Good Sleep
U.K. SCATTER RECORDS RH03 C.D. (2023)
During a decade or so in the corners of the public eye, the group Rutger Hauser‘s prime directive has been to tear up the rule books and instead, these denizens of Café Oto and regulars of Lewisham Arthouse have embraced the intangible with a particular blend of collective impro, where strands of pre-recorded material are overdubbed by found sounds and other noises off. This is becoming quite a popular plan of attack nowadays, but the scope is pretty wide-ranging, as the group would no doubt nod in agreement.
It would also seem that this line-up of Lisa Busby, Jamie Coe, Rose Dagul, John Harries, Sean Woodlock and Jan Klaemint Hofgaard favour site specifics as another integral part of the group identity. Recordings for “The Swim” (“…Sleep’s” precursor from 2018), took place in the Faroe Islands. I suspect that Faroese guitarist Jon Klaemint may have had a hand in this (?). And now, its long-time coming follow-up finds the sixtet in Rhoscolyn, Anglesey (pop. 542), where the set is divided into two parts: “Morning” and “Moon”. There does seem to be a discernable mood swing from a.m. to p.m. And it’s not just hiding in the titles. Compare the feedback and crackling electricity of “A Goodbye (in Sunlight”) and the transplanted Gilli Smythe-esque ‘space whispers’ of “Saboturrrh” to “Sue” and “The Garden Looks Different at Night” where Lisa and/or Rose (?) – the credits are unclear – channel the haunted/unhinged feel of the vocalese found on the “White Noise” debut, amid rusted/clanking sound generators and home-built percussives. Glorious! Delia and the rest of the Radiophonic team would’ve loved these tracks I’m quite sure…
Add to all of this, there’s a group telepathy well in evidence (ten years together – what would you expect?), which finds “Good Sleep” carving out an intriguing mid-way point between the pointillist and the ‘eyes-on-stalks’ schools of free thought.