Jana Winderen - Surface Runoff

This release is strictly limited to an edition of 500 copies. ***VERY FEW LEFT***

Side A Mae Taeng [45rpm] 02:56 + locked groove

Frogs and crickets from paddy fields, catfish and shrimp from the rivers Ping and Mae Taeng north of Chiang Mai, Thailand, using 2 DPA hydrophones, made during a visit to The Land Project in January 2007.

Side B Drift [33 rpm] 04:49

A collage of underwater hydrophone recordings from the rivers Fjaðrárgljúfur (Iceland), Akerselva and Hardangerfjorden (Norway), Spree (Germany), Ouse (England), Ping and Mae Taeng (Thailand). This edit is taken from the sound installation 'Drift' at the LABoral art centre in Gijon, Spain which opened on the 16th November 2007.

Surface Runoff

"Surface runoff can be generated either by rainfall or by the melting of snow or glaciers. Surface runoff is a term used to describe when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water, from rain, snowmelt, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle... Water moves continually through a cycle of evaporation or transpiration (evapotranspiration), precipitation, and runoff... " [Wikipedia]

This cycle, and the dependence of life on water, is reflected in these hot and cold recordings made by Jana Winderen. Uniquely able to co-exist in its three natural states, of gas, liquid and solid, water is our most precious resource. Without it we die.

Surface Runoff is the first in a new series of Autofact 7" releases, which continues with work by CM von Hausswolff and others...

Future projects by Jana include an album, "Heated - Live in Japan" [Tone 36] scheduled for release on Touch in January 2009, a studio album based on hydrophone recordings from the Icefjord Kangia by Ilulissat in Greenland, and the installation "Voices from the Deep" in collaboration with Chris Watson.

Cut by Jason at Transition Studios, London, 8th October 2008
Artwork & design by Philip Marshall
With thanks to NOTAM and OCA
Both tracks published by Touch Music [MCPS]

Biography

Jana Winderen studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College in London (1990-93) with a background in Mathematics and Chemistry at the University of Oslo. Since 1993 she has worked in Bergen and Oslo as an artist and producer/curator of independent international art projects; "12 Nights", "Street Level", "Motlyd", "freq_out 2", "Bandrom3". She is presently working as a freelance producer. Jana has exhibited her work in Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Japan, China and Thailand.

Sound has taken a predominant place in Jana's work since 1992. Her sound installation work is primarily concerned with interactions with the audience and the acoustics of a specific space. In the 1990s she worked predominantly in public spaces... Since 2004 she has been touring with an interactive sensor instrument for the production "The art of walking on water", made in collaboration with Jørgen Trœen and Trond Lossius. Earlier works include "Hard Rain" (2006), an interactive sound installation based on motion tracking, which was exhibited at "The Idea of North" in Canada and in the exhibition "Up.2.Date" in The Netherlands. Jana is also a member of the group sound installation "freq_out" curated by Carl Michael von Hausswolff, recently shown at "Happy New Ears" in Kortrijk, Belgium (2008).

Jana has for the last 3 years been researching the hidden depths of the sea with the latest technology; her work reveals the complexity and strangeness of the unseen world beneath. The audio topography of the oceans and the depth of glacier crevasses is brought to the surface. She is occupied with finding sound from unseen sources of sound. Her most recent sound works include "Submerge" (2008), for Fargfäbriken Norr in Sweden, based on hydrophone recordings in the local lake, "Rainbow Audio Transformation" (2008) at Extra City in Antwerp, Belgium and the 6 channel sound installation "+4°C - from Folgefonna to the North Sea" (2007) at Sleppet during the centenary of Edvard Greig, "Greig07" in Norway. Recently BBC Radio 4 followed Jana on her recording trip to the Barents Sea for the radio series "World on the Move".

"I like the immateriality of a sound work and the openness it can have for both associative and direct experience and sensory perception. I have been occupied with finding sounds from unseen sources of sound, like blind field recordings. Over the last two year I have collected recordings made by hydrophones, from rivers, shores and the ocean, and more recently also from glaciers in Greenland, Iceland and Norway. In the depths of the oceans there are invisible but audible soundscapes, about which we are largely ignorant, even if the oceans cover 70% of our planet. I am also experimenting with different types of microphones to collect sounds which are not obviously recognisable, but give room for broader, more imaginative readings. I use these sounds as source material for composition in a live environment or to create installations, currently also for film, radio, CD and vinyl productions."

You may listen to Jana's Touch Radio lighthouse recordings by clicking here.

Reviews:

Smallfish (UK):

This collaboration between Autofact and Touch is absolutely lovely. Jana Winderen is a name you'll probably be hearing more about in the future and, for me, this is just a perfect little 7". Essentially it's a field recording document created using a wide range of sounds and samples from various countries. 'Mae Tang' is constructed from paddy fields, frogs and crickets and has a lovely burbling sound that is incredibly relaxed. The B-side, 'Drift', uses underwater hydrophone recordings to give you an aquatic voyage with an almost wind-like quality to the sound. Beautifully presented and full of charm, this is a great release. Can't wait to hear more!

Aquarius (USA):

At first glance, it's easy to assume this is part of Touch's recent series of seven inches, and on first listen, there's nothing to dissuade us, but in fact, this is the latest release from Autofact, who does indeed have a deal with Touch to do their vinyl, but this is not a Touch record, although as we mentioned it might as well be, and will no doubt appeal to the same folks. Processed field recordings, recorded using hydrophones (underwater mics). The A side is a swirl of textured gurgles, almost a straight field recording of a pastoral creekside (birds, splashes, wind) but as the track progresses the sounds become more textural, almost rhythmic at times, sounding much more like Tim Hecker or Oval. The flipside features a collage of underwater recordings from rivers in Norway, Iceland, England and Germany, deep rumbles, soft creaks, occasional insects, the sound of a stream, water lapping on the shore, the sound shifting to more of a warm whirring very dreamy and abstract, slipping back and forth, above water, below water, crystalline and spacious, murky and muddy and indistinct, woozy and swoony and quite pleasing. Beautiful Jon Wozencroft style full color photo cover, and limited to only 500 copies.

noripcord (UK):

Great new Autofact 7" series, pressed in the UK with the same quality and design specs as Touch's recent 7" series. Perfect audio/art documentation, limited to 500 copies. Surface runoff is when soil is filled with excess water from rain, snowmelt, etc., and its subsequent flow of excess onto land. This cycle, and the dependence of life on water, is reflected in these hot and cold recordings made by Jana Winderen. Uniquely able to co-exist in its three natural states, of gas, liquid and solid, water is our most precious resource. Without it we die. Surface Runoff is the first in a new series of 7" releases.

Further information/reviews
For more information, please visit this product's webpage.