Matthew Atkins & Peter
Marsh
Paper Wasps
UK Invisible City Records ICR40
Cassette (2019)
Paper wasps gather fibres from dead wood and plants stems
which they mix with saliva and use to construct water resistant nests. From ICR, (not to be confused with Colin
Potter’s ICR), comes scuds of therapeutic laptop hums and buzzes from London
based musicians Matthew Atkins and Peter Marsh.
You may recognise Marsh’s name as the bassist from the consistently
wonderful Woven Entity, but he also dabbles in live soundtracks with Fourth
Page and general freeformery with others including Found Drowned; a trio with
drummer Crystal Moth (also from Woven Entity) and guitarist James O’Sullivan. Atkins has released previous work under the
name Platform, which was “…about lo-fi computer based sound manipulation and
rhythm, twisting and deconstructing found sounds and unlocking the patterns
within.”, but currently seems to be operating under his own name. I’ve also been listening to his recent Porous Inner Montage
cassette/download. I believe Atkins is a
drummer, but there is little evidence of what you might ordinarily think of as
percussion in those recordings, being made up mostly of a most agreeable type
of diaphanous backwards things, and delay.
Here on the four pieces that make up Paper Wasps,
a stringed instrument is plucked and struck.
There is a good amount of creaking in the background and noises made by sheet
steel and rebar being dragged around a builders’ yard. Marsh is credited with "electric bass and assorted machines", which is intriguing, while Atkins uses "computer, percussion, objects, contact mics and pedals". The music feels constructed to me, (although I
cannot back this assertion up with any hard evidence); the final arrangement could have been made via software or possibly a hardware sampler. I could be completely wrong and it may be
that Messrs Atkins and Marsh have simply set up a mic in the middle of the rehearsal room and got everything as you hear it straight down to tape in one pass. Either way, it’s certainly worth your
attention.
https://invisiblecityrecords.bandcamp.com/album/paper-wasps
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