Brednotbred’s latest release, Suspension In Time, is a two-sided tape full of haunting ambience.
Side A, “avoidofaffliction,” a piano piece that deploys tape phasing to gorgeous effect, feels like the kind of thing you’d find playing on a victrola unearthed from the recesses of a dusty attic. According to the journal that accompanies Suspension In Time‘s physical release, the tape deck–acquired from an elderly neighbor–that generated this recording was originally built to pick up broadcasting signals from military submarines. Brednotbred laid down a repetitive, ten-minute-long piano figure at different points along the tape, which moved faster or slower depending on its position–a phenomena that resulted in varying playback tones and speeds–then layered the recordings on top of each other. The slight variations between the different renditions of the same motif caused unforeseen echoes and harmonies to bloom organically. The old tape deck’s physical imperfection is the very thing that lends the piece its degraded beauty; it’s the sound of entropy happening in real time. Make sure to buy a copy of the physical tape itself to hear the full version of Side A.
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Artwork by Tyler Jacob
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