█████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▓▓ ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▒ ████████████████████████████████████████████ ░ ▒▓ █████████████████████████████████████████ ░▒ ▒▒ ░██████████████████████████████████████▒▒▓ ▓ ███████████████████████████████████████ ▒░ ████████████████████████████████████ █ ██████████████████████████████████▒ █ ▓█████████████████████████████████ ▒ ████████████████████████████████ ▒▒ ▒██████████████████████████████ ▒█ █████████████████████████████ ▒█▓▒ ████████████████████████████ ░██░ ░█░ ███████████████████████████ ████ ██████████████████████████▒ ▓████ █████████████████████████▓ █████░ █████████████████████████▓ ██████░ ████████████████████████▓ ███████ ███████████████████████▓ ████████▒ ▓█████████████████████▒ ▓█████████ ████████████████████░ ░███████████▒ █████████░██████▓░ ▒█████████████▒ ██████▓ ██ ▒▒█████████████████▒ ░█████ ███ ░ ░▒████████████████████▒▒ ██████▒░█▒██░█ █▒ ████████████████████████▒ ████████▒ ▓███ ████▓█ ██████████████████████░ ███████ ▒ ░██░ █ ███ ▒███████████████████████ ███████░ ▒ ███ █ ░██████████████████████████ ████████▓ ▓█░ ▒██████████████████████████████▒ ████████░▒██▒██████████████████████████████████ ████████████ █████████████████████████████████▒ ████████████ ████████████████████████████████ ████████████▓░██████████████████████████████▒ ████ ██ ██ █████████████ █████████████████████████████▒ ██ ██ ██████████████████████████████████████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ █████████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ███████████████████████████████████████▓ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ██████████████████████████████████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ █ ██ ████████████████████████████████████▒ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████████████████████████████████▒ ▒ █████████████████████████████████ ▒▒░ ELITE RECORD PLAYERS ███████████████████████████████ ▒▒ █████████████████████████████ ▒ ▒▒ ██████████████████████████▓ ▒▒▒ ████████████████████████ ░▒ ████████████████████ ░▒▓▒ ░ ███████████████▒▒░░▒░█░ ░ ┌────────┐ ────┤ Info ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Artist | Ian William Craig Title | Centres Genre | Ambient Format | Album Source | CDDA Time | 71:48 Label | 130701 Store | 2016 Catalog | CD13-22 Rip | 2016 Bitrate | 228 kbps Size | 124.54 MB Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Tracks ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ 01. Contain (Astoria Version) 10:05 02. A Single Hope 6:26 03. Drifting To Void On All Sides 4:14 04. The Nearness 7:45 05. Set To Lapse 2:47 06. Power Colour Spirit Animal 6:28 07. Arrive, Arrive 2:39 08. A Circle Without Having To Curve 9:52 09. An Ocean Only You Could See 6:02 10. Purpose (Is No Country) 3:18 11. It Need Not To Be Hopeless 4:21 12. Innermost 3:28 13. Contain (Cedar Version) 4:23 ┌────────┐ ────┤ Notes ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Canadian artist Ian William Craig creates haunting, otherworldly compositions that blend operatic vocals and neo-classical melodies with lo-fi production techniques more common to underground noise and experimental music. Utilizing analog synthesizer drones, piano improvisations, and his own stunning vocals, Craig creates his music from decaying loops played on damaged reel-to-reel tape decks. Evoking faded memories and feelings of loss and heartbreak, his emotionally charged works are utterly unique and inventive. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Craig was classically trained as a vocalist. He first became known as a printmaker, and worked for the fine arts department at the University of British Columbia. He began performing in 2010, and started digitally self-releasing his recordings in 2012. After two well-received albums on Sean McCann's Recital label, Craig moved up to FatCat Records' neo-classical imprint 130701 for the release of his most ambitious statement to date, "Centres". As with his previous recordings, Craig employs obsolete, faulty tape machines, layering his operatic vocals in decaying static. Centres is significantly more polished, with some clearer sonic elements and a few compositions that push closer to traditional song structures (especially 'A Single Hope', which even features drums), but it's still as otherworldly as his previous works. Basically, the increased production budget makes everything sound more. It's smoother and more accessible in some ways, yet it's also more abrasive and intense. The sounds are fuller and more haunting, with tape hiss layered so heavily that it often approximates torrential rainstorms. He begins "The Nearness" with a light accordion drone and singing, eventually building up thick, noisy distortion clouds before drifting back to the sounds of the accordion sputtering away off of a tape recorder on its last legs. "Power Colour Spirit Animal" opens with the sound of a heavily throbbing machine that sounds like it's giving off sparks and about to conk out, and this transforms into a lovely wash of bright yet diseased-sounding synths. Eventually this gets doused in sizzling static, and waves of vocals emerge from underneath. "Innermost" features faint vocals struggling to speak out from under the skipping tape loops and organ drone. Some songs consist entirely of Craig's multi-tracked vocals, either floating in effects as on the breathtaking "Set to Lapse" or more straightforward as on the graceful hymn "Purpose (Is No Country)". "A Circle Without Having To Curve" (one of two ten-minute tracks on the album) might be Craig's darkest composition to date, evoking imagery of a city ravaged by a hurricane through chilling vocal drones and swarms of Fennesz-esque processing, and eventually meeting a sudden end. The album ends with a stripped-back acoustic guitar version of opening piece "Contain", captured by a wire recorder so it sounds sepia-toned but not hissy or blurry. Taking Craig's already distinctive, powerful sound to extremes, "Centres" is another truly remarkable work. ┌────────┐ ────┤ Group ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── └────────┘ Salute NuHS