[...] The only one of the three that I have managed to listen to so far is a disc entitled 3, by Stasis Duo, who are Australians Adam Sussmann and Matt Earle. I have followed the music of these two as best I can for a number of years now, though limited distribution outside of their immediate locality has made this quite a difficult though rewarding task. Sussmann and Earle work together in many guises, ranging from rock bands to a kind of skewed electronica, but they are perhaps best known within these circles as Stasis Duo. Their previous releases have been somewhat harsh, unforgiving affairs, utilising rough sinewaves and other lo-fi electronic detritus to produce music centred around the use of high pitched tones and a fair degree of silence. There are several releases on the duo’s own Document CDr label (good luck tracking them all down) and a very good “regular” CD release that appeared back in 2002 on the excellent but sadly now quiet Impermanent label.
This new release contains three pieces, recorded between 2003 and 2009. . The first piece here, clocking in at some nine and a bit minutes utilises a stream of minimally layered high, whispery sinetones. There are no real breaks in the sound, but there is a considerable amount of activity here, with both musicians creating similar sounds that they allow to some degree to form overlapping loops and cycles, at relatively low volume with a good deal of the sounds seemingly out of reach of the ear (unless you are a labrador.) Compared to other sinetone practitioners such as Sachiko M, Sussmann and Earle’s music here is busy and highly active, with the pitch and intensity of the sounds used shifting regularly as the track develops into a nicely composed, delicately balanced piece of music.
The second track, slightly longer at eleven minutes or so has much more of an immediate presence to it, a closely miked hum sitting in the foreground throughout. An infrequently undulating deeper sinetone is present here, along with the hum of background room hum and little blasts of squeaky static that are suggested here and there. The track gradually develops, with new layers of slightly adjusted tone appearing as it progresses until as the piece achieves a kind of rich ringing status it cuts short in an edit I suspect was made later but still serves the music very well indeed.
As this piece drops off of the edge of the crevasse into silence nothing seems to replace it as the final twenty-minute piece begins. After a few minutes brief little glitches appear amongst the silence as if the CDr is failing to play correctly, but as these change and become more frequent it is clear this is not the case. Virtually inaudible sinetones are present here but they are so far outside of the usual listening frequencies that the impression is of little clicks and pops appearing in silence. As the piece progresses on to the five minute mark these subtle little intrusions begin to appear more frequently and are joined by very short blasts of dry static and whirring, clicking electronic chatter. All of these sounds though remain discrete, private, almost apologetic as they trespass into the otherwise predominant silence. It is inevitable that I think of Sachiko M’s recent move away from sinetones to small contact mic sounds here as there are some comparisons that can be made, though the slight variety in sounds here make for a slightly more varied yet equally hostile composition.
There is no indication as to which of the three tracks was recorded back in 2003 and which very recently, but I suspect that the pieces are arranged in chronological order and this last, extremely engaging track is the most recent. The music here sounds very fresh and vibrant. Though plenty is happening above the audible frequency range it seems very quiet, but when sounds do appear they tend to come in little clusters that burst with a surpressed energy that always suggests that a taut bundle of noise is ready to explode at any moment. It never comes though, and the track actually seems to slip back into silence as it nears its conclusion, as if a man with an overexcited dog stretching its leash had walked past, snarling and snapping but never able to get free as it passed by and out of earshot.
In a manner typical of Stasis Duo the disc is wrapped roughly and readily in a lovely piece of handmade (I think) paper with the name of the duo written simply in pencil on the front. I’ve only played the disc twice so far, and it is spinning for the third time as I type, but already I know I like this a lot. A disc I will probably play a good few times over forthcoming days. (Richard Pinell, The Watchful Ear)
Where Farmer’s disc consists of variations on a theme, Stasis Duo - 3 expands on the singular. Adam Sussman and Matt Earle record as Stasis Duo, with new considerations for what some problematically call “sinewave music”. Using material recorded at points over the last six years, Sussman and Earle concluded with this 41-minute disc, on which three ultra-minimalist tracks are sequenced for the studious listener. Akin to the “quiet” variety of electro-acoustic music, the duo puts “empty samplers” on the observation table, from which whispery electronic tones are extracted and then examined for dramatic potential. On a fundamental level, this approach has been explored in excess, most notably by Sachiko M, who drove her music into the ground long before an expansion of her techniques would get underway. Stasis’ first track might give the impression of rehash, but the duo proceeds with a sensualist’s approach to the material — without Cageian grandeur. The first 10 minutes of the disc — quiet, static — are best heard as stage-setting for a longer progression. Restrained tones broaden by the second piece, giving way to something like an aural negative en route to the third, by which time it’s evident that it is product by way of concept that Sussman and Earle are after, rather than the inverse. High-pitched sounds become shattered and anomalous along the music’s route, which seems to point to vacuum, save for occasional microscopic segues of noise defying silence. The disc’s frequency range is set to a narrow window, best heard with considerable volume (not to worry, there are no heart-stopping “shocker” moments). While not overdone, I could get by on something a bit shorter in overall duration. Those interested in new derivations of minimalism should check it out. (Alan Jones, bagatellen)
Stasis Duo have been reviewed before and is a duo from Australia of Adam Sussmann and Matt Earle. They play around with sine waves, glitches, humms, and all that jazz. Their music is throughout very quiet. I'd love to tell what things are called with the card that has the information is totally erased by accident or design, and not to be read. The first piece is a sine wave piece, which can be heard, whereas the second is more about glitches and a bit of sine waves towards the end but most of the time the sound sinks below the threshold of hearing. Which was a great gimmick in the days when we ate at Warzawa Restaurant, but these days is something that I don't think is really necessary. More glitches in the third piece, lumped together in blocks and interrupted every now and then with a louder sine wave sound. This is quite a nice piece, but perhaps, clocking in at twenty minutes also a bit long. (Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly)
Matt Earle and Adam Sussman weave paper thin tones, quavering, barely-there shimmers that nonetheless have significant presence and, yes, depth. Fragile, quasi-melodies and rhythms peek through (ok, maybe a bit loopy now and then) but there's always a sense of "things behind", of hearing through several layers of scrim. you encounter scattered louder scritches and the odd subsonic thrum, but we're pretty much in the high, pristine ozone and it's quite bracing, stinging the skin. Nice. (Brian Olewnick, Just Outside)
So far everything that's come my way from Kostis Kilymis's bijou EAI imprint has been excellent, and this latest offering from antipodean lowercasers Adam Sussmann and Matt Earle is no exception. Just don't make the mistake I made and take it out on the streets on your mp3 player because you won't hear a bloody thing: these three tracks are, for the most part, extremely quiet, but there's an enormous amount of detail in what Sussmann and Earle conjure forth from empty samplers. On the first track, against a harmonic backdrop of a glistening phantom diminished triad, tiny disturbances at the limit of audibility, both in terms of frequency and dynamics, trace ever so delicate lines in the inner ear, drawing the listener in to a micro world of breathtaking subtlety and beauty. What a shame it stops dead just before the nine and a half minute mark – I could listen to this all day. But tracks two and three are just as impressive. "Recorded between 2003 and 2009", says the label website – let's hope that means there's more where this came from. Limited edition, exquisite handmade paper covers, move fast, don't miss it. (Dan Warburton, Paristransatlantic)
