new music reviews authored by paul khimasia morgan

Friday 14 June 2019

Matt Atkins & Peter Marsh




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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