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Synapse

by Jim Tetlow

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1.
Synapse Mvt I: Cold Cortex 11:04
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2.
Synapse Mvt II: Agitation 12:00
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3.
Synapse Mvt III: The Third Eye 06:25
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4.
Synapse Mvt IV: Thalamus 10:55
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5.
Synapse Mvt V: Static Deluge 07:28
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6.
Synapse Mvt VI: Pyrokinesis 11:50
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7.
Stepping Stones in Stasis 10:40
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about

In early March 1998, feeling frustrated by how the musical processes I'd been using up to that point made things feel overly linear and disconnected from "feeling" the music, I revisited some techniques with processed feedback which I'd used back in January and abandoned the sense of structure I'd been predominantly accustomed to. I was suddenly dealing with pure sound in an abstract, intuitive (not to mention dark) framework. Overdubbing with my cousin's guitar put through a ring modulator, I kept going and suddenly had the bare bones of a half-hour piece which formed the basis of the Synapse suite's first three movements. I added sounds from the didgeridoo I'd had for a year and taught myself to play, my own voice, snatches of radio dialogue and random tones from my old Atari 800XL computer, all fleshed out with singing bowl tones and strings from my recently-purchased Roland synth. It was at that point the darkest, most uncompromisingly experimental and abstract music I'd ever recorded and to an extent this is still the case. A very powerful work.

In 2001 this music became my first solo album, released on CDR by Auricle Music, a small independent label focusing on experimental music run by the Freeman brothers who are known for their book The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, their magazine Audion and record shop Ultima Thule. A mention in Audion described it as "extraordinarily trippy and spacious" and likened it to "the most abstract realms of Coil", a comparison I was most proud of.

Recorded on 4-track cassette, the music was mixed in real-time straight from the recorder in the Freemans' studio on 1st April 2001. Its abstract and often-chaotic nature meant it wasn't the easiest music to mix down and for many years, while feeling content with the results, there were details which hadn't been given the chance to be heard properly due to the limitations of the process. It really needed a digital mix with fully programmed automation and the recent rediscovery of some digital transfers I made at friends Victoria Bourne and Chris Harper's studio in the summer of 2009 (the Synapse material included), along with all the extra time the Covid-19 lockdown afforded, spurred me on to do exactly this, especially as the Auricle CDR was no longer available.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well this work has stood the test of time, 22 years after first recording it. I did all I could to polish the recording and bring out details which had been hitherto muffled while enhancing the dynamics, taking care not to deviate at all from the spirit of the original work. I only added two things: extra electroacoustic treatments of the guitar which are introduced occasionally with restraint, and a recording of my unborn daughter's heartbeat which I placed very quietly into the background of the third movement 'The Third Eye'. Everything else is as per the original recording.

credits

released May 5, 2020

The Synapse suite was recorded on 4-track cassette between 3rd and 7th March 1998 and digitally transferred at Victoria Bourne and Chris Harper's studio on 14th July 2009.

Stepping Stones in Stasis was recorded on 4-track cassette on 21st August 1998 and digitally transferred on 27th May 2014.

Remixed and mastered between 2nd and 5th May 2020.

All 'comprovisations', recording, transferring, mixing, mastering and artwork by Jim Tetlow.

Sound sources:
Roland SC-55 Sound Canvas controlled by Yamaha PSS-790 (2-7), electronic feedback oscillation (1-2, 4-6), Hohner Rockwood electric guitar (1-3), didgeridoo (2, 4-6), voice (2-4), radio (3), computer-generated tones (5-6), third-trimester foetal heartbeat (3).

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Jim Tetlow Leicester, UK

Jim has been recording music in some form or other since 1990, currently focusing on a hybrid music combining instrumental and acousmatic elements. He has involved himself in Leicester's thriving music scene since 1997, playing in a number of bands/duos/projects covering a wide variety of musical territory. ... more

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