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Kit Mix #95: Amanda Feery

 

Here’s a brilliant addition to our mix series from Irish composer Amanda Feery. We first came across Amanda’s music through Fort Evil Fruit, which released a tape of her anxious, brittle piano solos, Spells From the Ice Age. Her mix is made entirely of music produced by reed instruments – from the wooden rasp of oboes and bagpipes to the metallic wobble of accordions and organs – a floaty journey that spans several centuries. Astonishing! You can, er, read more about it in Amanda’s words below…

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‘I decided to go with a unifying theme for this mix – reed instruments. Some of the tracks I’ve chosen encapsulate the melodic colour of a reed instrument, such as the plaintive high register bassoon melody at the beginning of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, the unfolding oboe melodies in Third Ear Band’s Earth, and the voice-like quality of the uilleann pipes in Gol na mBán san Àr . Other tracks I chose for their proper old-school, deep-listening minimalism and rich drone – Michael Gordon’s 56′ work Rushes for 7 bassoons, and Pauline Oliveros’ constantly alive and breathing Horse Sings from Cloud.

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I particularly love the imperfections that creep through the mechanics of these instruments – the clunk and wheeze of an old harmonium, or the percussive keyclicks on a saxophone. I chose tracks that explore these sounds, whether consciously, in Colin Stetson’s Judges and Seán MacErlaine’s Ripple the Pond or treat them like beautiful accidents, allowing extra-musical sounds to emerge from the quality of the instrument and their recording environment.’

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Amanda’s beautiful new album with Michael Tanner, To Run The Easting Down, is available for pre-order via Awkward Formats.

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