Ar Ais Arís

Digital via Bandcamp

Robert Curgenven
Ar Ais Arís
Rare, remixed & unreleased works – 2005-2020
Cassette + digital download
Fort Evil Fruit  |  FEF_102 | Edition of 75
(SOLD OUT)
39 minutes

Robert Curgenven's first release on Irish label Fort Evil Fruit and first release in over four years, Ar Ais Arís (pronounced ‘ar ash areesh’ - “back again” in Irish) compiles tracks from limited releases, installations, reworkings and unreleased tracks spanning the last 15 years. The pieces combine live performance, environmental and studio recordings made in 7 countries he has spent significant time in over these past 15 years. The album as a whole traverses (in a non-linear fashion) lines of flight across his native Australia, across Europe, to Cork and his current home on an island in Connemara, Ireland.

“Fantastic textures” – Dave Mandl, WFMU (NY, USA)

“A collection of five pieces ranging back some fifteen years, incorporating fiend recordings, crackles, disembodied voices, soft drones--both dreamy and disturbing, very strong.” – Brian Olewnick, Just Outside (USA)

"These five diverse works demonstrate the breadth of Curgenven’s sound practice ... while also bringing his core artistic interests into starker relief. ... a piece like “Wisla Reorientations” presents these as discreet but connected, “Air+Electricity” leans into a more physically pummeling amalgamation. Particularly in his live performances, Curgenven focuses on minute fluctuations in resonance." - Joseph Sannicandro, A Closer Listen (USA)

Mastering &/or *remastering: Antti Sakari Saario, Cornwall

Side 1
1. Gruen Transfer #4                                                01.27
2. Largo Affettuoso                                                   10.01
3. Wisla Reorientations – live at 24Hr Art             07.53

Side 2
1. Silent Landscapes no. 5                                       06.28
2. Air+Electricity (remixed)                                       13.00

1.1. Recorded: Cork, 2016-19. Remixed: Connemara, Ireland, 2020, from works “Unbalanced Architecture” & “Babel” exhibited at: Palace of Culture (Warsaw, 2016), Wandesford Quay Gallery (Cork, 2017), Les Brasseurs (Liege, Belgium, 2019).
1.2. Recorded: live at Extrapool (Nijmegen, Netherlands, 2009) using ‘Transparence’ dubplate, various guitar- & field-recordings. Remixed: Berlin, 2009 & Connemara, Ireland, 2020. [*Previously released: Compost & Height 3” CDr series, 2009, 50 copies]
1.3. Recorded: live at Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art / 24Hr Art (Darwin, NT, Australia, 2006). Restored from DAT & remixed: Connemara, 2020. Piano (Sydney, 2006). Field recordings: Wisla River (Poland, 2005) during 170km canoe expedition (Krakow to Sandomierz), for "Roots/Culture" project, exhibited Zero Gallery (Berlin, 2005).
2.1. DAT, Field recordings: Australia, 1999-2006. Mixed: London, 2009. [*Compost & Height First Birthday comp., Café Oto, London, 2009, 3CD, edition of 60]
2.2. Recorded: Milan, 2008. Remixed: Connemara, 2020. Guitars: Melbourne, 2007 & Berlin, 2008. Field recordings: Australia, 2004-8 & Poland, 2005 - Melbourne (VIC), Winton (QLD), Kakadu National Park (NT), Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney (NSW), Tanami Desert (NT), Katherine (NT), Coober Pedy (SA), Alice Springs & Macdonnell Ranges (NT), Poloniec (Poland). Piano: Berlin, 2004/5. [*Previously released: German tour CDr, 2008, edition of 40]