Plafond 4 — Ulla Straus / Oceanic [LP]

Vinyl: https://clone.nl/item57897.html
Digital: bakk.bandcamp.com/album/plafond-4

A1 Ulla Straus — I Forgot to Take a Picture (12:03)
A2 Ulla Straus — Becoming Warm (6:24)
B Oceanic — Three Sides Of A Shell (19:21)
 ↳ 1. Aperture 
 ↳ 2. Columella
 ↳ 3. Sea If You Can Hear

The fourth Plafond sees fine-crafted contrasting pieces complement each other in courtesy of Ulla Straus and Oceanic. Along the wide arbitrary landscape of listening or 'ambient' music, it is a delight to have two artists, separated by the vast Atlantic, contributing quite opposite interpretations of such to the series. Perceptual time feels as a recurrent theme which binds them, albeit in a whole different modus operandi.

In her iconic tactile productions, Straus excavates levels of advanced musical complexity in the seemingly most simple. Throughout two tracks her crude and beautiful technique riffles, compositions that remain prone to the transient, combining field recordings with morphing saxophone and guitar. This is deeply evocative music that turns its recipient into a mode of contemplation. ‘I Forgot to Take a Picture’ breathes melancholic romanticism, ‘Becoming Warm’ feels lorn yet hopeful. Pastoral haze over a rouge-tainted barren, the crackling insides of a wooden forest house. Picturesque and minimalist, Pennsylvania’s Straus manages to temporarily stop the sand from gravitating downwards.

Oceanic antagonises Straus with the triptych ‘Three Sides of a Shell’, recalling different emotions adhering to the fourth dimension. As a performing artist, Oceanic masters the element of suspense. Here, over the course of nineteen minutes, a three-note sequence is explored within the producers imaginatory, chapterised, providing moments to navigate through his fictitious galaxy. Stuttering melodies across azure waters, synthesised bleeps as flickering stars over a moonlit mountain pass. Oceanic’s music feels advanced through actively incorporating contemporary futurism, whilst never losing the glacial glance that is so familiar to its early nineties foregoers. It is as if listening to ‘Three Sides...’ heightens the senses, towards possibility, innovation even, triggering illusions of time dilation, shattering the hourglass.

Comes in hand printed dreamy, pink sleeve, including Obi-strip, by the BAKK Innerspace Ink Station.

Music: @ullastraus / @oceanicocean
Design: Mike Kokken and Heer Badoux
Words: Luke Cohlen (@lukecohlen)

Plafond 5

BAKKPlafond4 | Ulla Straus / Oceanic (LP)

Music label, based in The Hague.

BAKK then, now Plafond.

Working through multiple arts (drawing, music, poetry), Michaël Koswill composes melancholic music inspired by space and silence. Initially trained in percussion, he has long explored sounds to create particular atmospheres such as choreographies or soundtracks of films whose mysterious stories are only visible in his imagination. He also writes poems, paints and draws what he considers to be "brief forms for lively gestures".

Within the artistic collective Unclearpicture, he composes and writes texts inspired by the original photographic work of Sylvain Entressangle.

Travaillant au travers de multiples arts (dessin, musique, poésie, Michaël Koswill compose des musiques mélancoliques inspirées par l’espace et le silence. Initialement formé aux percussions, il explore depuis longtemps les sons pour créer des ambiances particulières comme autant de chorégraphies ou de bandes originales de films dont les histoires mystérieuses seraient uniquement visibles dans son imagination. Il écrit par ailleurs des poèmes, peint et dessine ce qu'il considère être des "formes brèves pour gestes vifs". 

Au sein du collectif artistique Unclearpicture, Il compose et écrit des textes inspirés du travail photographique original de Sylvain Entressangle.

Ukraine is the capital of the World ㋡
🙆 👀🧛✨🌐🌚🌈🎧☯🕉🔜🔚♍🇺🇦