The title is rather literal. I wanted with this album to create something that depicted the vast nightscapes of the West, with great spans of darkness punctuated by shapes and structures of different qualities of light. From the experience of a white highway line continually emerging from impenetrable, inky blackness with nothing else visible, to snow-capped, jagged, windswept peaks in full moonlight, to the distant sight of a brilliantly-illuminated industrial complex in the Utah desert where the stuff that sends spacecraft skyward is made, this album is about those visuals and the evocation of emotions they brought.
The tracks for this album actually originate from the first few months of 2007, and while at the time I was simply sketching different ideas, the five tracks that started this project always had a certain evocative feel to them that set them apart. So when it came time to return to composing again many years later, I turned to these tracks first off, and using the present-day computer technology of 2018, I used a similar idea from "Sferica", where the initial tracks after being processed from shortwave audio suggested a 'score' to be elaborated upon. This time, however, the elaboration method was to use many digital techniques to draw the nature inherent in the original tracks out further, to make them "more that". So instead of looking 'outside' these pieces to arrive at a final result, I instead turned 'within' them to pull forth the sonic imagery these sights from travel suggested.
Many people to thank: Abdullah Aziz, Al Harris, James McNeely, Ben Robinson, Aaron McCallister, Jake and Maggie Folger, Kevin Kennedy, Doreen Kamada-Fujii, Daniel "Buzz" Mass, Mike Kleppin, Mitzi Merritt, Pat Callaghan, Simon Shak, and of course Paul Defenbaugh, all of whom played pivotal parts in the interim between the original tracking sessions and the work that finally brought them to their full flower.
credits
released April 2, 2018
Initial sessions in Rankin, IL from January-March 2007. Final computer processing and mix December 2017/January 2018, Champaign, IL. All selections composed/recorded/produced by DAC Crowell.
Composer/performer in electronic and electroacoustic media, concentrating on avant-garde ambient works. Studied with John
Anthony Lennon, Salvatore Martirano and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Also known to do vaporwave and related sorts of sonic tampering. Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, he currently resides and creates in Champaign, Illinois....more
Amazingly calm...goes absolutely nowhere for an hour or so, but at the same time, it sends you somewhere. I use this as prescribed; in fact, I think my copy is currently by the stereo in my bedroom. DAC Crowell
The man, the myth, the MAX wrangler extraordinare! Carl's works never fail to astound with his skills at unfolding entire new sonic worlds from bits and pieces of others. DAC Crowell
Mind-shattering intensity...one of the few records I own that may be too intimidating for me to experience! Sunn o))) are true dark masters of raw sonic power, and "Black One" is their event-horizon! DAC Crowell
Recorded before a live audience, these compositions leverage the strengths of two ambient masters into a hypnotic 18-track set. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 25, 2024