CD - Touch
Three dense and acousmatic tracks, in which Robert Hampson displays unconventional attitudes in very imaginative ways, are devoted to the construction of complex soundscapes. The plots are constructed with great care for the pauses; the ones in 'Umbra' - quote from Latin referring to the darker area projected by a body on a surface - vibrate a nearly alien sensibility, eclipsing traditional music forms in low and granular frequencies. The track, derived from a 16-track composition of 2006, is the second commissioned by the GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales) - an ensemble founded by Pierre Schaeffer in 1958, which now also devotes its time to the sociological and aesthetic analysis of experimental musical. Also 'Ahead', commissioned by Vibrö (a collective of artists, designers and journalists, with a specific interest in sound art), sports - since its original performance at the Planetarium of Poitiers - rarefied textures, here more spatially inclined, while in 'Dans Le Lointain' (always for the GRM), the reconstructions are made from old recordings, manipulating and skilfully "interpreting" short-wave radio signals.

Aurelio Cianciotta