koonoklast

Brendan Murray, Boston’s badly overlooked master of dronemusik and the author of one of 2008’s best ambient releases, a 49-minute aural monolith called Commonwealth, has kindly agreed to answer a few questions about his latest work, released earlier this year by 23five. Stream the excerpt below, enjoy the shimmering wall of sound, and read the artist’s thoughts about this monumental effort.

———————————-

Brendan Murray – Commonwealth (excerpt):

(Available for purchase direct from the label and from these fine distributors.)

———————————-

What kind of musical ideas did you develop as you worked on Commonwealth?

I spent a lot of time listening to thinking about minimalism, specifically “classic” New York Minimalism. That led me to consider notions of musical form that was not episodic in nature, like some of my earlier work. I dispensed with field recordings as well, as I did not want to rely on them for “glue” within a composition. I developed a tonal palate instead from recordings of guitar and synthesizer and spent a very long time honing them into something both static and propulsive; sound that appeared to “stand still and move very fast” all at once. I knew I wanted something that was one thought, one track. The last time I did that successfully was the “Ocean Of Dirt, Mountain Of Steam” CDR on Gameboy (which is out of print, but I saw one copy at the Hospital store a few weeks ago).

How did you transform your source material into the sounds we hear on the album?

The transformation of the sounds, as you put it, was brought on with constant layering and editing. When a “tone group” was created, I then made a mix of those sounds and reedited it over and over, until a large block of sound was created. I didn’t want to have any recognizable trace of the source material, so I spent a lot of time taking out attacks, string vibrations, any detectable filters from synths, etc. I used a lot of pitch treatment to create building blocks for the piece and the bulk of the work was spent timing and sequencing these “blocks” until they made sense as a piece of music.

How would you relate Commonwealth to your past works in terms of development as a musician?

Commonwealth was a big deal for me artistically. I put a huge amount of pressure on myself and got really caught up in it towards the end. It turned out to be for other, personal reasons, but after I finished it, I didn’t make solo music for nearly six or seven months, which was the biggest break I had ever taken. It relates to earlier pieces (like “Ocean”, as I mentioned) but stands as the most complete thought I’ve had thus far. It’s opened a lot of doors for me (that has a lot to do with 23Five and what a great label they are) and to be totally frank, the record gave me some much-needed confidence. I had a bad self-deprecating streak when it came to my music, and the amount of work Commonwealth required cured me of that. I’m not saying it turned me into a big egomaniac or something; it was more that I was just…proud of it. It punctuated 7 or 8 years of learning how to be a composer and finding a voice that was articulate.

What are your hopes and plans for 2009?

2009 will be busy.

There are three releases out on the Students Of Decay label at the beginning of 2009 that I am very excited about. The main one is a solo record with no title (or self-titled if you like) that is made up of shorter pieces that I made very quickly (for me) last year. Most of them are based on recordings from shows, or music prepared for shows, so it has an almost “diary” quality that I like.

The second is the bonus disc that comes with the pre-order called “The Cold Piano”, which is an unedited live recording made at the Swedenborg Chapel in Cambridge, MA, opening for my friends undr quartet. It was their 10th anniversary concert and I presented a piece made entirely with piano sounds. It was January, hence the wildly clever title.

The third release is “Exploded Heart Mixes”, which is a CDR which re-works some music cue that I did for a documentary called “Human Heart Explodes” that played at a few festivals in 2006. The pieces are made from recordings of three string players: Mike Bullock (contrabass), Katt Hernandez (violin) and Vic Rawlings (cello).

Also in 2009 I’m firming up plans to travel to the West Coast to play a concert that I’ll have more information about when it’s announced.

There’s lots of collaborative work as well. Hell Hoarse, my duo with NYC improviser Chuck Bettis, spent some time in the studio this fall and we plan to finally finish a record. There’s a long-standing collaboration with Claudio Rocchetti that I’m working on, my band Ouest (with Jay Sullivan and Howie Stelzer) will do some touring, the rock band Paper Summer that I am in with my friends Chokdee and Sam (I play drums and guitar) is writing new material.

There’s also some projects that are just getting started: a DVD with Richard Garet and Asher, in which we all make films and sound pieces is being discussed. Asher and I are also working on a duo record. I am doing an LP for the Kvist label that will be very different from most of my other work. There’s a singer named Noell Dorsey in Boston who is classically trained and has a great range as an improviser and she’s agreed to help with a new piece based on recordings of her voice. Also, Bhob Rainey and I are finally going to do play live as a duo after talking about it for a long time. I also joined a large band directed by saxophonist Dave Gross in which I play synth. Dave has also agreed to let me produce his next solo record, which will be “high concept”, to say the least.

That sounds like a lot, and it is. Now I have to do it! I’m more active now then I’ve ever been and am pretty excited to work as much as possible.

This interview was conducted via email.