MYSTERY SEA 59 | simon whetham | [beneath the swinging bridge]
ARTWORK 
front 
back
INTRODUCTORY
WORDS
"it struck me that, while traversing the city of bristol, one crosses many bridges, and ones that roads run across tend to be swing bridges - that is, bridges that move aside so that waterways traffic can pass. this causes the road-going traffic to halt, creating pauses in the everyday flow of the city's veins and arteries. one also tends not to hear what occurs beneath bridges, purely using them as a means to cross some normally impassable obstruction. thanks to the staff of the swing bridges in the cumberland basin in bristol, I gained access to parts of the bridges not open to the public, allowing me to explore further these valves of commuter circulation...
density - surrounding
thick cloying
dip down under once more
stop
remember where you have been
but always stay focused on your destination"
- simon whetham, January 2010
PRESS RELEASE
UK artist Simon Whetham has a solid
curriculum which betrays years of perceptive sound auscultation, and
deep listening. Translating this into practice, he composes with field
recordings since a research trip to Iceland in 2005... from there on,
both nationally and internationally, he has been commissioned for creating
specific sound installations, participated to many exhibitions, done
a workshop in the Amazon rainforest at Mamori Lake under Francisco López
's patronage... He has also been involved in various festivals,and released
several works on an array of labels such as, entr'acte, Con-v, Lens,
Gruenrekorder, Trente Oiseaux, 1000füssler...
He's also the initiator of “Active crossover”, a sound exhibition
touring throughout the Uk, where those involved devote themselves to
open cross-pollination...
Simon Whetham through his activities wishes to place
“the ear” in a central position as imaginary fertilizer
as opposed to the tyranny of the visual...
“beneath the swinging bridge”, his MS contribution, casts a peculiar light onto a passage point & everyday architectural element, attempting to make us figure it out on a pure aural, sensory mode...
Distortion of time,
light metal breeze,
low gurgling chant
along oxidized furrows...
Listen to the corroded particles,
the subdued streams...
-
crossing over,
we're just passengers,
transient and frail,
trying to learn...
-
stagnating pools & ever changing flows,
beyond the firm structures...
hidden life exudes
from every surface...
A distant song fades like a twisted memory...
“beneath the swinging bridge” is an ode to connection...
01. beneath the
swinging bridge 
LENGTH
36'04
FORMAT
CDR ltd to 110 numbered copies
VITAL WEEKLY 723|Frans
De Waard
Since 2005, when traveling to Iceland,
Simon Whetham concerns himself with field recordings. His work
has been released by various labels, such as Entr'acte, Con-V, Gruenrekorder,
1000Fussler and now he finds home on Mystery Sea. I assume that for
this recording, given the title, Whetham found himself
under a bridge, recording the boats passing, the water on the shore
and all of that captured in the space found under the bridge, capturing
the reflections these sounds make in the high ceiling. Maybe not of
course. Then at home he puts all those sounds on his computer and starts
playing around with them. He uses a lot of filtering on the sounds in
order to get out those frequencies he thinks are interesting in his
composition. Then he moves them around in various blocks, so there is
a part that deals with water, or with boats passing etc. Its a great
work I must say. Very sparse, but never quiet, a slowly evolving composition
with lots of room to breath and gentle movements between the parts.
Maybe in terms of field recordings and microsound nothing much new under
the bridge, but done with a great love for the material at hand. Excellent
piece.
vital weekly
WONDERFUL
WOODEN REASONS|Ian
Holloway
Fittingly there's a decidedly aquatic
theme to Simon Whetham's contribution to the Mystery
Sea catalogue. Water trickles, pretty much, throughout this rather
lovely composition. He overlays the water with vaporous tonal
drones that pulsate and oscillate their way through intermittent coral
reefs of less salubrious sounds. His tones are a little too cold
for full immersion in the sound so you are never fully swept along but
as an accompaniment to my daily life it is a more than suitable soundtrack.
wonderful wooden reasons
FURTHERNOISE|Alan
Lockett
--- NEW !
Fittingly 'The ECM of ghostly ambient
sounds,' declares Belgium's Mystery Sea in a pithy keynote at its website
entrance. Presumptuous perhaps, but apt, in view of the yawning resonance
and spectral drift of its aqueous and chthonic back catalogue. Daniel
Crokaert operates out of Brussels, Belgium and has been steadily putting
out MS’s solicitously packaged short-run cdrs for nearly a decade.
The label has run the gamut of experimental cognoscenti contributors
to its ocean-drone theme, with earlier works from mnortham, Dale Lloyd,
and Troum to, more recently, Matt Shoemaker, Asher and jgrzinich. Certainly
MS affords a natural home to the enquiring ear of Bristol sound artist
Simon Whetham's aleatory view from the under bridge.
With an extensive CV that betrays years of perceptive sound auscultation,
Whetham's been surveying various fields with his questing
mike for some years, the fruits of which have issued in specific sound
installations, sundry exhibitions, workshops (e.g. in the Amazon under
Francisco López's patronage), and releases on entr'acte, Con-v,
Lens, Gruenrekorder, and Trente Oiseaux. Initiator of “Active
Crossover”, a sound exhibition devoted to artistic cross-pollination,
he purports 'to place “the ear” in a central position as
imaginary fertilizer as opposed to the tyranny of the visual...'
On Beneath the Swinging Bridge Mystery Sea's evolving
series of 'night ocean drones' finds a passage point and everyday architectural
element recast as sounding source, prompting interpretations in pure
aural, sensory mode. Liner notes state that all source material for
this album was recorded in the Cumberland Basin, Bristol. As would be
expected, water, variously voiced from drips to sluicings, plays a leading
role, but the creaks and baritone lowing of the swing bridge are the
stars. Low level listening may be de rigueur with experimental ambient
and deep listening, but BtSB gains valency in volume,
as beneath the aqueous babble-bubble are some engrossing drones and
sound-pearls for deep audio-divers. Whetham's bridge
peals to reval more of the world beneath it till we might almost be
there now, attended by the chance gamelan of gas pipes and water traffic.
Whetham's ominous sonography turns out to be an immaculate
conception with moments of brilliant realization.
furthernoise
[^]