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 American experimental artist GREG DAVIS, in town this week for the Liquid Architecture 7 festival, discusses with ANDREW TUTTLE the nuances of field recordings and collaborative approaches to creating music.
Originally labeled with the ‘folktronic’ tag after his processed guitars meets glitchy electronics 2002 debut Arbor and its 2004 follow-up Curling Pond Woods; Davis has markedly diversified. Beginning with 2004’s Somnia album on Kranky, Davis has increasingly looked towards the improvisational and tonal nuances of drone-based sound art, creating music that is equally inspired by an intimate knowledge of Max/MSP software and eclectic utilisation of a variety of instruments. As well as his solo recordings, Davis is quite the prolific collaborator. Previous collaborative releases of his include Yearlong, a documentation of live performances with recent Australian visitor Keith Fullerton Whitman, and Paquet Surprise, an avant-pop symphony created with Frenchman Sebastian Roux.
For his second Australian tour, as part of the Liquid Architecture 7 festival, Davis is joined by fellow American experimental musician Jeph Jerman for a collaborative improv set. Davis describes working with Jerman as “a really refreshing and cleansing experience,” adding that “We were on a really similar wavelength in terms of how we listen and our ideas about sound.”
To coincide with the pair’s tour together, Brisbane label Room 40 have released Ku (“a Japanese word that translates roughly as 'the matrix of all phenomena'”), of which Davis explains that “there isn’t any really computer processing on the record, I really wanted to keep the final CD mostly all acoustic in the spirit of our original improvisations.”
Since Davis’ 2004 Australian tour, which included a masterful set at the Brisbane Powerhouse, his approach to music has changed somewhat to expand his musical horizons.
“I think the main thing is that my music and ideas about my own music have become more dynamic, encompassing even more sound and volumes and textures and moods. One of the things I wanted to do to evolve from my earlier music is to not be as static musically and emotionally and sonically. I’ve even diversified my recorded catalog even more, and mostly been collaborating with various people over the past few years. I’ve also been trying to rely less and less on computer sounds and techniques in the studio and in a live situation when I can. [I’ve been] trying to bring in more live instrumentation and just using the computer for colors or as another instrument to add some sounds into a piece.
As well as an increased emphasis towards collaboration and attempting to rely less on his laptop, Davis is a keen student in the art of field recordings. As well as including them on his recorded works, Davis’ record label Autumn Records operates the Leaves series, a limited-edition work in progress specialising in pure field recordings.
“Field recordings can be as musical and interesting as the most composed or humanized music. I really enjoy listening to all types of sound, and field recordings are one way that I can remove myself as the performer or composer and just become a listener and capture a time, space or place.”
Greg Davis performs at Liquid Architecture 7, Brisbane Powerhouse, Friday June 30.
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