Recurrence

In 2000, LINE began with Series by Richard Chartier, a work described by The Wire as: “it’s worth stretching the ears in search of Chartier’s sequences of exquisitely sculpted sonic events, as gorgeous detail bodies forth out of the shadows.” Since then, this work has remained unperformed, often “unperformable” due to live environments’ noise and audio system limitations. In 2011, Chartier began a series of new works, Recurrence, the first revisiting Series‘ elements and reworking them into entirely new compositions. Drawn to the original sounds Chartier felt that they could be re-composed. The form they have taken contains isolated and discreet events strewn across the sound field, creating a strange landscape and altered sense of space. Prompted by an invitation to perform in the ideal and intimate listening environment of artist/curator France Jobin’s Immerson event at the renowned OBORO in Montreal, Chartier was finally able to present the subtlety of this new Series, “Recurrence (series)” in two parts. Working at OBORO with their Head of Audio Research, Stephane Claude on its spatialization Chartier finally presented versions of piece live in a multi-channel diffusion on November 17 and 18, 2011. In October, Chartier presented a 30-channel edited version of “Recurrence (Series)/ Recurrence (room/crosstones)” at EMPAC (Troy, NY) as part of Akousma @ EMPAC event to a sold out theatre. An full studio version of “Recurrence (series)” is accompanied on this release with “Recurrence (room/crosstones)”, an exploration of room tones and other low frequency wave recordings. The Recurrence works are a continuing reflection on major aesthetic elements of Chartier’s artistic language as it has evolved through the years. This is Chartier’s first new solo studio album since 2010′s Fields for Mixing (Room40, Australia). formed and recorded by Richard Chartier, August 2011-September 2012. ©2012. Cover: detail of Untitled, 2012 (graphite on paper, hand cut, 3 layers) by Adam Fowler