Artjom Astrov
Background Music (Vol 1)
SRS2, 2017





How often must we listen to a sound before we realize it? One time, one million times? Can one single sound be the same twice? How long shall it be? One minute, one eternity? How can we still sense ears wide open when the crunch of worldly affaires lays flat and dry in front of our hearts? Everything has already happened. All emotion has passed.
Of course, there were all those Ligetis, Hendrixes and Pärts. We’ve had it all, so close, so far. Walls covered with microbes, microphones, clicks, cuts, traces of gestures, edges, magnets, charts. Ages of what once would be accomplished, almost, ages of what could never last.

Thus, we reach the island, it suddenly unfolds in front of us. Clear, transparent, wide open, organ of fulfillment, straw of harmony, glimpse of a very moment, point of no return.
More. Colors. Stillness. Emptiness. Synchronicity. Ambivalence. Persistence.

Mirrors, doors, glass. Leaves, leaflets, leafless. Vast –

In other words: Astrov has created an astonishingly decent, pure & present surprise. It seduces our attention to let go of conventional acoustic consumption. It is of great joy to be reminded, that art shall start at the point, where unconceptualized playfulness and serious, serious professionalism tend to explore the yard.

Liner notes by SSMIDD

Melodica by Savva Terentyev on Nothing Happens.

Recorded in Viljandi, August 2016.
Mixed and mastered in Tallinn, January 2017.