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Ven Voisey [V. V.] (USA) • residence: North Adams, Massachusetts, USA • composer
Articles about Ven VoiseyRecord reviews are found in the pages for each disc (via the “discography” tab).
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Sounds Around: Field Recordings in Electroacousticsby David Turgeon in electrocd.com (Québec), June 1, 2003 |6135| Field recordings have always fascinated electroacoustic composers, ever since Pierre Schaeffer’s Cinq études de bruits (1948), featuring processed train sounds. With R Murray Schafer’s Vancouver Soundscape 1973 (1972-73), these everyday sounds are articulated around a discourse which will be termed “sound ecology,” whereby sounds keep their original meaning, and no longer serve as anecdotic content to be used and abused at the composer’s whim. Jonty Harrison synthesises these two approaches in his short text About Évidence matérielle. Actually, every composer seems to have their own unique approach towards field recordings. If sound ecology has seen the burgeoning of microphone artists such as Claude Schryer and of course Hildegard Westerkamp and her famous Kits Beach Soundwalk (1989), sound travels such as French duo Kristoff K.Roll’s CD Corazón Road (1993) are, in this respect, closer to the art of documentary film. Meanwhile, Brooklyn-based composer John Hudak starts off with an extremely minimalist palette so as to seek out the “essence” of sounds, which, to the listener, translate into soft, dreamy soundscapes. A student of the aforementioned Jonty Harrison, Natasha Barrett conceives beautiful landscapes of sounds with very discreet field recordings, that retain an aesthetic likeness to the acousmatic tradition. Many young composers settle into this landscape (of sound...) and their work is of such interest to us, it would be a shame not to let them be heard. We shall first mention the California-based V. V. (real name Ven Voisey), who organises his found sounds into an architecture reminescent of “old school” musique concrète—doing so, he uncovers a previously unheard aesthetic affinity between Schaeffer and Merzbow... With Relisten, Austrian composer Bernhard Gal guides us through his carefully selected episodes of “found musics” (that is, musical structures that preexist within the environment.) Finally, because of its numerous ideas and its incredible pacing, the surprising flume ridge.halifax.lisbon (2001) from Montréal composer Cal Crawford will undoubtedly seduce listeners looking for unheard acousmatic grounds. Two small treats to end with. First, the pretty Aenviron: one mini-CDR is a simple thread of five pure field recordings (with no processing!). After all, if there is such a thing as cinema for the ear, why shouldn’t there be a photo album for the ear! And to close the loop, may we also suggest to make a stop at Lionel Marchetti’s recent mini-CD with the evocative title, Train de nuit (Noord 3-683) (1998-99). This work for one loudspeaker, dedicated (couldn’t you guess?) to Pierre Schaeffer, remind us again of the ever renewed importance of environmental sources in feeding the electroacoustic ocean.
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Reviewby Richard di Santo in Incursion Music Review (Canada), November 11, 2001 |460_5|
“V.V. has created an intense and dramatic piece…”
V.V. is one Ven Voisey, who it seems also runs the Throat label, on which this disc was released earlier this year. Things collapse in on themselves features one track that is just under 18 minutes in length. It begins with the sounds of rain, escalating slowly in volume and intensity until a sudden shift takes place, as if closing the door on the rainfall, leaving only an uneven dripping of water along with random concrete sounds. A simple loop on acoustic guitar creates a slow and repetitive lull in the middle of the piece, accompanied by flashes of static and all manner strange sounds. The noise builds and builds, the guitar disappears, the hiss rises in intensity, the sounds become closer and louder, until the piece finally climaxes, coming full circle as it falls back into the rainfall from the opening sequence. V.V. has created an intense and dramatic piece here, and this short disc is quite enough pique my interest about what might be next for him. Recommended. electrocd.com Ven Voisey [V. V.]: press |
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