crystallise, a frozen eye, by James Ginzburg

crystallise, a frozen eye

by James Ginzburg

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Finn of Tomland This release doesn't just take you on an immersed trip into James Ginzburg's sonic universe because with the accompanying book it gives it a whole new depth and what a beautiful journey it is.
Very highly recommended.

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Limited edition 14 page hardback book containing three texts and images that expand on and weave together the album's themes. Album download and streaming is included.

Includes unlimited streaming of crystallise, a frozen eye via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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	1.	light evaporates 04:42
	2.	on obsidian expanse 05:15
	3.	the eyes, behind — 03:53
	4.	lines tangled, space between 02:51
	5.	border, dispersing 02:01
	6.	a gate left open disappeared 04:40
	7.	in time — crossing 02:32
	8.	a direction, standing still 02:18
	9.	twilight in pierced velvet 02:59
	10.	outside, infinite 04:19
	11.	absence intact 03:10

about

Download includes PDF version of chapbook containing three texts and images that expand on and weave together the album's themes.

Throughout his career, james ginzburg has shown a relentless desire to map the musical landscape's distant poles. As half of industrial-experimental duo Emptyset he has wrestled with extremes, tearing apart techno and harsh noise frameworks and re-assembling them with endearing passion. Running the Subtext label, he has nurtured artists from across the musical spectrum, from avant jazz composer Yair Elazar Glotman and sound designer Aho Ssan, and acclaimed minimalist Ellen Arkbro, as well as co-running the Arc Light Editions imprint with BBC3 Late junction's Jennifer Lucy Allan.

And as a solo artist, ginzburg has tackled folk, club music, ambient and drone with a similarly enthusiastic intellectual curiosity.

The last Emptyset album, 2019's "Blossoms", was rooted in complex sound design assembled using elements synthesized from neural networks. To challenge that approach, ginzburg set about developing an acoustic counterpoint. "crystallise, a frozen eye" is a patient, meditative album, built slowly and pointedly around largely repurposed folk instruments.

Over eleven tracks, ginzburg ruminates on the complex tonal qualities of the Appalachian dulcimer, the psaltry, the shruti box, Daf drum, an acoustic guitar and a custom-made string instrument designed for Emptyset's "Borders".

The sole electronic element, a Sunn o)))-esque sub bass rumble, comes from ginzburg's Octave Cat, the analog synthesizer he used on enduring bass music classic “Purple City”, a collaboration with Bristol's Joker who incidentally mastered the album.

Harnessing the evolving, tonally rich qualities of both familiar and forgotten instruments, ginzburg has reached a poetic musical peak, fusing his engineering experience with the expressive, fallible humanity of acoustic performance. It continues ideas laid out by artists such as Catherine Christer-Hennix, Ellen Arkbro and Laraaji, melting folk history with deep listening practices and the sheer enjoyment of both sound and duration.

Written in the fall of 2020, "crystallise, a frozen eye" brings up universal themes of isolation, safety and mortality, but traps them beneath a veneer of archeological curiosity. In looking back to the sounds and textures of pre-Christian Europe, ginzburg occupies a space that falls outside of current cultural trends. His music instead reflects our shifting relationship with time, inspiring us to contemplate memory, repetition and stasis.

The album is presented as limited edition short book containing images and three texts that expand on and weave together some of the record's themes.

credits

released May 7, 2021

Cover image: Clayton Welham
Design: Monika Janulevičiūtė
Photography and text: James Ginzburg
Text editor: Hannah Gregory

All tracks written and produced by James Ginzburg
Recorded 2020 in Schöneberg, Berlin
Mastered by Joker
Published by Multiverse Media Publishing
© & ℗ Subtext / Multiverse LTD 2021

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about

James Ginzburg Berlin, Germany

james ginzburg is an artist and musician whose work has encompassed experimental electronic music and art production, folk music, film and film score and extensive dance music production. Together with Paul Paurgas he founded emptyset (Thrill Jockey, raster-noton and Subtext). ... more

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