Music Review // Craig Shepard "On Foot: Aubervilliers" (Infrequent Seams)
When going into this new release by Craig Shepard, we must first note that this is a set of over thirty field recordings, each named with the location and date. One of the great things about field recordings is that you can create some that are a half an hour or more in length, if they remain interesting enough, but with these by Craig Shepard they don't seem to be as long. For me, field recordings are a lot like drone music. People assume drone music is easy to make because you just stretch out one note for a really long time, and so what is field recordings other than just going somewhere and pressing record?
But there is a lot of know how that goes into making field recordings. It's not as easy as just picking a place and time and pressing record. When done well, as Craig Shepard does, a great field recording can paint a picture for the listener. When I think back to the era of silent film and how you add a score to a movie in that sense it feels like field recordings are the opposite because they give you that score and you fill in the visual pieces with your mind as you listen along.
The first track on here, for example, begins with the sound of sirens, a jackhammer and voices. There are engines revving, beeping and then a splash as well but this just all feels like it's taking place at a busy intersection. It could be either the morning or night time, as you get a lot more traffic, and it's just people either on their way to or home from work. I know based on the title that this isn't from NYC but it reminds me a lot of walking around NYC except it isn't rude. One time walking in NYC everyone was beeping in stand still traffic when someone yelled "Quit beeping it doesn't do anything!", only in much more colorful language.
As this is called "On Foot" it's easy enough to realize that these field recordings are being made by the author walking around the streets of different cities and I like to think that there are specific walks as well. I used to work somewhere within walking distance of me, and so I think of it now as what if I were to have recorded every walk to and from work for the time that I worked there and then used the best ones to create an album. These are the types of things which inspire me, but I also think of them mostly in hindsight and if I deliberately set out to create field recordings they wouldn't sound as good as these.
The engines on the second track show we're outside once again. There is some screaming, as if people are fighting, but then at one point you hear this fly buzz right into your left ear. I'm listening to this with earbuds on for the full immersive experience and I thought for a moment that there was an actual fly in here. The third track, however, is this buzzing/humming like a broken car horn for two minutes, which drones but also can change tone slightly. There is something synth about this as well and it feels closer to music than to a field recordings.
On the fourth track, which is about Paris, there is a beeping like items being scanned in a grocery store, a siren can be heard in the distance and there is stomping. Sounds like saws and then the beeping of backing up come in as well. The sound of the jackhammer returns and as you listen to these tracks you'll find that there are, in fact, some themes to them because you'll hear similar sounds from one to the next which makes it feel like while we're out taking these walks some of them can be in the same place and even if they're not it can show how places can have things such as sirens and road work in common.
By the sixth track you will hear this sound like a music box- a series of notes on a loop- and it feels like either one of the music boxes you wind up and the tiny ballerina dances or you have to crank the handle for the jack in the box to pop out and jump scare you. The seventh track takes you out to sea, as it feels like you're just floating on the waves. You can even hear the birds, which make me think we're at the water as I imagine them to be seagulls.
If I had to put a number on this, I'd say each song averages about five minutes because some are more than that and some are less as well. This is also over the course of just over thirty tracks, so for me to sit here and write about each of them feels like not only am I going to lose your attention by the end but also it can kind of spoil some of what is coming when listening. In keeping with that idea of this being like a movie, you can discuss some of the events leading up until the end but you don't typically want to give away the ending.
The sounds heard here by Craig Shepard can both stimulate the mind to where it has you painting mental pictures of what the audio is representing in a visual way, but it also at times can just be relaxing to where you can just put it on, close your eyes and enjoy the sun shining outside. I wouldn't listen to this while driving because it can be distracting but there is also more than enough music here to keep you going for time to come.
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