ESO STEEL - Technology Of Sleep

New Zealand expat Richard Francis, now residing in Tokyo, lands on the shores of our senses with his one full length release for 2000, Technology of Sleep. Francis has been long active downunder in the world of NZ underground tape and acetate labels. After recording with the short lived guitar noise band Small Blue Torch (with Birchville Cat Motels Campbell Kneale), Francis set sails for the orient where he has been releasing a steady stream of tracks on CD and acetate record. Sleep indicates a development in style from the drone and loop releases of previous years. More compositional in approach, Steel works a gentle blend of natural and artificial field materials including high frequency pitches, deep bass and minute scratches of sound sourced from the natural environment, household appliances, and body movements. At times a combination of the noise from ones surroundings, as well as the natural pops and clicks of the vinyl are beckoned into the compositions through the spatial arrangement of sounds and Steels interesting use of altering volume. Recognizable but also unfamiliar, the territory mapped by Sleep sits comfortably in the electo-acoustic region of sound making, background or foreground.