OCHU Ljud för efterblivna (Verlautbarung) TAPE
"Sounds for retards"? Yes please, if they sound this good! I think this is pretty fast-paced material in the context of Ochu. At least if my memory serves me right many other releases of his have been more mellow. There are two long tracks but the scraping and scrunching that goes on inside their frames is pretty intensive.
As the case always is with Ochu, this release really strikes a chord in me in many ways. The presentation is full of earthy colors, understated images and textures of paper, topped off with a coarse piece of string and a shrapnel of wood. The sounds are organic, this time focusing heavily on wood in its different forms. I recognized some of the more tape-y sounds that go on in the background from the recent Gothenburg gig, a sort of abstract otherwordly whistling and such that pairs well together with the more concrete and hands-on sounds. The live show that was performed as a duo exhibited the use of branches, logs, pinecones, planks, gravel, bark and so on, and you can hear those sounds on this album too.
I think something Ochu said in the WCN interview about recording some of his stuff in an island setting has influenced the mental images that the sounds conjure up for me quite a bit. Even at the Gothenburg show I did what I usually try to do at almost every show I attend: I listened to parts of it eyes closed. And the images that rose to my mind were something like a secluded shoreline with reeds, some grey clouds in the sky, parts of furrowed rock visible in the sand. The images were somewhat historic, even prehistoric, or maybe there were different moments with different timelines, it's a bit hard to explain. Beetles carving their way into fallen trees, primitive huts dismantling due to erosion...
This is one of those albums that changes drastically when the listening volume is modified. At louder volumes it can sound quite abrasive and if you barely twist the knob it's more round and even soothing. Nevertheless it's quite a heady recording. I wonder what the song titles are about?
