Whisker Floater - Notions of Sçintilla CS

Whiskerfloater, like its name, works on the lightest of premises: sounds are exchanged and so a project begins. As recordings are passed back and forward sequences and loops flow into textured complexes that reappear across different tracks. The trails they leave are local and suggestive - ‘atmos wrappers’ for the project’s intents.

“Notions of Sçintilla” is Whiskerfloater’s third album. What is ‘there’ or used to be ‘there’ in an auditory sense ! There is an artefact flavour to the construction of many of these tracks, which as a preconception has been carried through from the recordings and mixes of the first album “No Zinc”. Something made by our human hand or our intervention, providing a quality and insight into the original musical ideas even if these original recordings are no longer present in the final presentation of the piece.

In some instances some of these audio remnants are non removable and show up as fragments of the original musical structures. The intention for using remnants is not about exposing the mechanisms involved in producing the original musical part (ie. peeling back the curtain) it’s about injecting or ‘leaving in’ the incidental and related character of the remnant that may have a slightly different rhythmic accent, an incremental out of sync feel or a harmonic edge that sparkles within the mix. This technique is partially related to a ‘sound on sound’ process in overdubbing with 2 track and 4 track tape.

There are recurring phrases in the musical structure across some of these pieces, which are sampled and sliced and recast melodically and rhythmically. There are also overlays of audio segments that act as ghosting layers within a piece. This technique involves large contour parameter shifts to some plugins via MIDI automation. This affords some morphing between dry/direct sound and effected sound for some of the audio segments.

Sometimes a sequence or looped melody/ riff are combined with another part and modulated into a harmonic complex that flows more like an extended reverb tail. Such textures can reappear across different pieces and act as a signature ‘atmos’ wrapper for the album.

Also in this album is the use of hard panned analogue synth chains. These series are made up of event patterns that don’t have a particular or reproducible pitch order. The dual L-R synth chains are usually tempo matched but not concurrent or sample & hold patterns. The harmonic complexity and filtered noise have performative characteristics and being hard panned add dynamics to the stereo field, which provide another structural layer to the music.

Lastly juxtaposition of percussive and field recording passages are inserted into the framework of a musical continuum either as a breakdown or bridge. - Mound of Sound