LAND – ANOXIA

ANOXIA

BACKGROUND

L A N D IS ANOTHER ALIAS OF DANIEL LEA FEATURING A REVOLVING DOOR OF GUEST VIRTUOSO COMPOSERS AND SESSION MUSICIANS. L A N D IS AN ACOUSTICALLY DRIVEN INDUSTRIAL INSPIRED PROJECT WITH HINTS OF JAZZ, MODERN COMPOSITION, DENSE TRIBAL RHYTHMS AND ARCHITECTURAL SHAPED SOUND DESIGN. COLLABORATORS OF PAST RECORDS INCLUDE, DAVID SYLVIAN, RUPERT CLERVAUX, BEN FROST, ALEXANDER TUCKER, DUKE GARWOOD AND DANIEL O’SULLIVAN.

THE SECOND L A N D ALBUM ANOXIA SEES DANIEL LEA RETURN ALONE WITH AN OUTING THAT MARKS A SHIFT FROM THE INDUSTRIAL INFLECTED JAZZ NOIR OF THE PREVIOUS ALBUM INTO DISTINCTLY NEW TERRAIN. MIXED BY BEN FROST AT GREENHOUSE STUDIOS IN REYKJAVIK THE ALBUM WAS MASTERED IN BERLIN BY RASHAD BECKER AT D&M.

AND WHILE ANOXIA MEANS THE TOTAL ABSENCE OF OXYGEN, IN LEA'S HANDS IT HERALDS AURAL ENVIRONMENTS THAT ARE FULL OF THE DREAMS OF MAN THAT MAY WELL BE DEVOID OF HIS LIVING PRESENCE. AS WE ALL KNOW, THE ANTHROPOCENE ERA IN WHICH WE LIVE HAS MANY MANMADE MONUMENTS THAT ADD UP TO A TOTAL PRESENCE WE WILL LEAVE BEHIND: THE LABYRINTHINE ARRANGEMENTS OF LEA ARE A SOUNDTRACK TO SUCH A WORLD, ONE WITHOUT MAN THAT IS NEVERTHELESS A WORLD FULLY MARKED AND CONSTRUCTED BY HIM.

"PUMMELINGLY HEAVY, INVENTIVE, COMPLEX AND DISTINICTIVE TOUR DE FORCE...."

RELEASE NOTES

FROM THE VERY FIRST MOMENTS OF THE PUMMELING DJUN DJUN SKINS AND THE GROWING BOWED ROTO TOMS OF 'LABYRINTHITIS', THE DIRECTION IS ONE OF A MORE RADICAL CONSTRUCTIVIST SOUND ROOTED IN MODERNIST ARCHITECTURE.

LEA CREATES AN ARCHITECTONIC LANDSCAPE, ONE THAT PLACES THE LISTENER IN AN ENVIRONMENT THEY ALONE SEEM TO INHABIT. HAVING ELEVATED HIS PRACTICE TO THE POINT WHERE HE CLEAVES SPACE SONICALLY, WITH FROST THE PERFECT MAN TO MIX SUCH SPACES. THE RESULTS ARE VISIONS OF A BRUTALIST WORLD SLOWLY DECAYING, BUT WITH THE MELLIFLUOUS HARMONICS OF VEGETATION AND FLUID MATTER ENTWINING THEMSELVES AMONGST THE RUINATION.

BY THE TIME THE TRACK 'SECONDS' COMES AROUND WITH ITS SHIMMERING, ACCUMULATING ALUPHONE AND ASCENDING USE OF FERMATA YOU FEEL LIKE PERHAPS YOU'VE AWOKEN IN A NEW DAWN, BEFORE THE BASS AND CYMBALS SIGNAL A FIRE DRILL OR AN EVACUATION.

THE EPONYMOUS MOVIE FROM 1966 BY JOHN FRANKENHEIMER COMES TO MIND, IN WHICH A MAN IS GIVEN A NEW IDENTITY, ONLY TO DESCEND INTO A PARANOID WORLD OF APPARENT ILLUSION AND SUBTERFUGE. IF THIS IS A NEW DAWN AFTER THE PRECEDING TRACK "METAMORPHOSIS", THE CHANCE FOR A SECOND LIFE, IT IS ONE IN WHICH THE BODY AND ITS FUNCTIONING CAN BE REBORN BUT IN WHICH THE SPIRIT REMAINS SUSPENDED, REDUCED TO A LIMBO WORLD. WITH 'DROP CITY' WE SEEM TO ENTER A METROPOLIS OF STEAMING FOGS THAT ENGULF SUBMERGED ENGINEERING WORKS: A DROWNED WORLD OF RAMPANT CHAOS SLOWLY, TENTATIVELY, OVERTAKING THE GEOMETRIC ORDER OF STREETS AND BUILDINGS.

OTHER TRACKS RAISE UP LIKE TOWERS IN A CITY STEMMING FROM THE METALLIC CHIMES AND STRUCTURED PERCUSSION, WE HAVE VISIONS OF THE BALFRUN TOWER OR THE GENEX TOWER, BUT THAT IS NOT TO ROOT THIS TO GEOGRAPHICAL REAL WORLD LOCATIONS. ANOXIA MAY WELL BE IN A TIME OUTSIDE OF TIME.

A BALLARDIAN IMAGINATION IS OPENED UP THAT ALLOWS THE INVERTED DREAMS OF THE MIND TO FUSE WITH A RECOGNIZABLE REALITY: BLACK CAN BECOME WHITE, RUINS BECOME HOMES. ON THE TITLE TRACK 'ANOXIA' CELLO HARMONICS SWING THEIR HEAD AND SCREECH LIKE PRANCING KOMODO DRAGONS, MARKING THE ENTRY TO THE FINAL TRACK, THE 'END ZONE', WHERE LEA CARRIES OUT HIS OWN INITIATING RITUAL, A DANCE BETWEEN THOSE EDIFICES LEFT BENEATH THE GROWING MILLENNIAL WEEDS AND FORESTS. MONUMENTS THAT WILL LONG OUTLAST THEIR CREATORS.

ALUPHONE

LUMINOUS GARDEN

"WHEN UNCOMMON SOUNDS ARE COMBINED WITH PERCUSSIVE PROPULSION AND DARK ATMOSPHERES...."

PROCESS

THE GENESIS FOR THE ALBUM “ANOXIA” COMES FROM THE WORD ITSELF AND IT’S MEANING - THE TOTAL ABSENCE PF OXYGEN. FROM THERE AN ALMOST BALLARDIAN WORLD OF BLEAK LANDSCAPES AND SUBMERGED CITIES AROSE, ALONG WITH NOTIONS OF THEIR AURAL LANDSCAPES, WHICH BECAME AN ABSTRACT THEMATIC DEVICE THAT SERVED AS A KIND OF NORTH STAR FOR WHERE THE ALBUM WOULD GO.

NOTIONS SURROUNDING WORLDS OF STEEL FOUNDATIONS, MONOLITHIC STRUCTURES AND DECAYING VEGETATION WERE PREDOMINANTLY BROUGHT TO LIFE WITH ONGOING EXPERIMENTS AND PROCESSES WITH PERCUSSION AND SOUND AS MATTER.

MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST, MASTERING ENGINEER AND COMPOSER RUPERT CLERVAUX WAS BROUGHT IN TO PLAY A WHOLE HOST OF PERCUSSION THAT INCLUDED ALUPHONE, CROTALES, COPPER PIPES, DJUN DJUN’S, GAS CANISTERS, GONGS, METAL PERCUSSION, HAND DRUMS AND BOWED CYMBALS.

RHYTHMS AND BEATS WERE FIRST PROGRAMMED PLACEHOLDERS AND LATER REPLACED BY A VAST PALETTE OF PERCUSSION THAT EMERGED THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION, OFTEN IN TIMINGS OF 5/4, 7/4, 9/4 AND 11/4/.

MARK WASTELL (IMPROVISATIONAL MUSICIAN/COMPOSER) CONJURED INCREDIBLY DENSE BASS DRONE LIKE TEXTURES FROM THE TAM TAM MEANWHILE CLIVE BELL (SESSION PLAYER/

IMPROVISATIONAL MUSICIAN) PROVIDED SHAKUHACHI FLUTE WHICH WAS VERY BREATHY AND REPTILIAN IN IT’S DELIVERY.

EXPERIMENTS WITH BOLTS ASCENDING DOWN LONG SCREWS, RECORDED WITH BOTH ROOM AND CONTACT MICROPHONES THAT WERE LATER PROCESSED THROUGH GRANULAR LIKE DEVICES BOTH ANALOG AND DIGITAL. THESE PROCESSES WERE ALSO USED WITH FIELD RECORDINGS THROUGHOUT THE RECORD TO CREATE TEXTURE TO EMULATE THE DECAY AND VEGETATION.

A LUMINIST GARDEN BY FOLKTEK LUMINIST GARDEN (A METALLIC PERCUSSION SOUND DESIGN GENERATOR/MADE FROM STEEL GUITAR STRINGS), WAS USED TO IMBUE CERTAIN HITS OF PERCUSSION WITH A STEEL LIKE PRESENCE. THIS WAS LATER PITCHED DOWN AND PROCCESSED INTO SHARDS OF CONSTRUCTION AND STEEL LIKE TEXTURES.

“ANOXIA” WAS THEN MIXED BY BEN FROST AT GREENHOUSE STUDIO’S IN REYKJAVIK (MUTE

RECORDS/DARK/RAISED BY WOLVES) THROUGH SOFTWARE AND PLUGINS BEFORE BEING FINALLY MIXED THROUGH A NEVE DESK.

FINALLY THE ALBUM WAS MASTERED BY THE LEGENDARY RASHAD BECKER AT D&M IN BERLIN.

TRACKLIST

1. LABYRINTHITIS
2. NEUTRA
3. DROP CITY
4. METAMORPHOSIS
5. SECONDS
6. EQUINOX
7. TRANSITION
8. ANOXIA
9. END ZONE

CREDITS

COMPOSED & PRODUCED BY DANIEL LEA
MIXED BY BEN FROST AT GREENHOUSE
MASTERED BY RASHAD BECKER AT D&M

DANIEL LEA: SOUND DESIGN, FIELD RECORDINGS, PROCESSING & ELECTRONICS

RUPERT CLERVAUX: DRUMS, PERCUSSION, ALUPHONE, CROTALES & COPPER PIPES
JAMIE McCARTHY: CELLO ON 4, 6, 7 & 8, BOWED PERCUSSION & COPPER PIPES 6 & 8
CLIVE BELL: SHAKUHACHI ON 3, 6 & 8
LEO ABRAHAMS: PROCESSED GUITARS ON 2, 7 & 9
MARK WASTELL: TAM TAM ON 2, 6, 7, 8 & 9
DOM GARWOOD: CLARINETS ON 1

COVER DESIGN BY ROBERTO CRIPPA

RELEASED BY IMPORTANT RECORDS SEPTEMBER 2015

ALL RECORDINGS