CD-R, Triple Bath, 2010
myspace.com/danielalexanderhignell
The stylish, minimal cover doesn’t reveal much of what to expect, and being unfamiliar with Daniel’s other works, “Soundscape Study 001” is a first aural encounter. Ten tracks, entitled F01 to 05 and B01 to 05, reveal the phases of his ‘study’ and the outcome of the various experimentations, although I am unsure what the ‘F’ and ‘B’ stand for. The tracks are intentionally named like this because there is an definite difference between the two sets.
The ‘F’-tracks can be seen as a depiction of a walk through the streets of a city in a haze of – for example – a delayed acid trip. Words, sounds, textures, but mainly atmospheres, build a surrealistic view on the world. On the other hand, the ‘B’-tracks are more truthful soundscapes in the original meaning of the word. Genuine compositions of manipulated field recordings (I think) and sounds of other origin.
The result of these studies is a journey through a desolate town, but as is reasonably normal in the scene of minimalism, isolationism and soundscapes, desolation is something beautiful that embraces you and makes you feel alive.
Tip!
[8/10]
— Bauke van der Wal