genLoss

MUSIC

From the compilation Subcutaneous Sound. This piece was conceived as a process of quotation, the quote being from a small bit of Louis Armstrong's "St. James Infirmary". A digital recording of the opening phrase was recorded onto a 1960's 1/4" reel-to-reel deck, then played back off the tape and captured digitally again, then played back digitally and recorded onto the tape again, back to digital, back to tape - fifty some odd times. What results is an evolving degradation of the source in the form of repeated quotation, form of degradation known as "generation loss" where the medium drowns the message. As successive generations of the theme pass us by, new harmonic textures arise from its decay. These are joined by double bass (David Arend), piano, cymbals, electronics and guitar (performed by myself).