Mark Peter Wright - A Quiet Reverie
Click image for more pictures
The first impression of Mark Peter Wright’s – A Quiet Reverie – an audio exploration of Site, Solitude and Perception, is the fantastic presentation. If artists and record companies would spend as much of an effort as Mark Peter Wright did we would not have heeps of uniformed cd cases, ready to be placed into mass produced ikea shelves that can be placed in the corner, thus not standing out too much, just as every single immobile and untouched case, a stepchild, unwanted but taken in, collect dust.
A Quite Reverie is a delightfully short piece of work – 18 minutes to be precise. It starts off somewhat unquiet, with a sound that resembels the sonic fury of a modern airplane. The interesting aspect of this in essence powerful sound, is the restrain in which it is used. The reserved but yet strong sound that seem to grow out of nothing slowly fades away, only to be replaced by the fresh sound of dense rain.
From machine to nature. Or are we taken for a ride? Is it mere sound manipulation, layers of sound placed over light noize, birds to be precise. The changing aquatic sounds – from rain to waves – would makes us believe that we have indeed moved from the world of machines back to the soothing world that is untouched by human hands.
The chattering of the birds gives the ambient sounds of the begining of the record a lift. Almost as an alarm call, waking up the listener from the slumber it had fallen into. The crackling of wood and echoing sounds that follow continue to stir the listener.
This is the primary perception of the record, as a piece of sound. But the record is not just a piece of sound. A Quiet Reverie is a record and an accompanying book. In the preface Mark Peter Wright invites the listener to read the accompanying book as you listen to the record. Listening to the record while reading the book offers a richer insight into the piece of audio exploration we have been given.
The investigation of the ruined abbeys of North East England is described as a ‘psycho phonography’ by Mark Peter Wright, as opposed to a ecological or documental one. In the chapter ‘Psycho Phonography’ he writes that psycho phonography aims to place emphasis on context and a sense of tracing back. It is the journey that becomes a key focus.
A Quiet Reverie though lacks a personal narration in order to allow the listener complete aural and imaginary autonomy. By extracting the personal, it places emphasis on absence. “Absence particularly in space and site are fundamental to the practice, whereby the listener is not necessarily searching for markers of a given environment but opening the ear to an immersive and engaging experience. In this sense sound must be seen and heard as a phenomenological experience where shifts in listening consciousness are actively encouraged. A Quiet Reverie aims to reinvigorate and refocus the subject area and allow the listener into a phonographic world full of history, sense, time, site and reverie, elements akin to the nature of sound and its ability to transcend.
Psycho phonography is therefore an attempt to evolve phonographic and environmental recording practice to a level that engages beyond documentation or ecological awareness. The aim is not to replicate place, but encourage a deep shift in perception and listening.”
The historical background – the dissolution of the English monasteries – provides this piece with a quite interesting framework. Mark Peter Wright has used the history of the site in an intriguing manner, linking events from the abbeys to a short philosophical exploration of the present. The short piece entitled ‘In Search of Silence’ puts this audio exploration into a mindteasing and though provoking setting.
The sounds in themselves are fascinating, but this sound recording doesn’t come with a book only to look good. It is a mandatory part of the Quiet Reverie experience. Without it the recording is only half finished.
Soundscaping highly recommends every listener to take a twenty minute break from everyday life, and read through Mark Peter Wright’s small black book while listening to ‘A Quiet Reverie’.
Visit Mark Peter Wright’s MySpace page for more sounds.
