two new video pieces uploaded to preview the release of the 'salts / adagios' project cd / download:

http://jezrileyfrench.co.uk/film---video.php

'salts / adagios' - seconds from string works re-scored as durational pieces and recorded by placing jrf contact microphones & geophones on surfaces under & around the orchestra / ensemble performance venues

cd / download - to be released January 2015

salts | adagios (extract # 2) from Jez riley French on Vimeo.

salts | adagios (extract # 1) from Jez riley French on Vimeo.

'if you so wish....' (scores for listening)

high resolution pdf book of the scores + an on-going archive of realisations by various artists.

download 

inc. recordings / performances  by JrF, Ryoko Akama, Cheryl Leonard, Yui Onedera, Pierre Gerard, Phil Maguire, Mihalis Santamas & more....

 

jez riley french  |  dissolves: the eating of fruit

eg059

digital download

using specially adapted JrF contact mics - strung with wires - these two recordings made in Italy capture the sound of different species of ant consuming fruit. The first (a section of which formed part of the piece 'resonances di topoolo') is what remains of an original 4 hour recording of ants eating an apricot. The second captures a more subtle event - with a smaller number of ants eating a strawberry.

jez riley french - 'a quiet position  |  (resonances) leigh woods'

digital download

https://engravedglass.bandcamp.com/album/resonances-leigh-woods

leigh woods sits on the south bank of the avon gorge on the edges of bristol - one of those liminal spaces that we perceive according to our subjective ideals - a small piece of nature where we might find some calm, both in terms of sound and sensation. 

‘an english woodland is a place of contemplation, wherein ones most obvious companions are the birds, trees and ones preoccupations alone’ in fact, as the lens of field recording shows, there is a cacophony of sound that, closely observed, allows us to form a more rounded view of locale and our impact on it. In this way, when the question is asked ‘what is the sound of leigh woods ?’ the first responses could be birdsong, the rustle of leaves in the breeze, children playing and climbing etc. However, if a single sound dominates the woods it is the constant sound of traffic on the A4 below. Perhaps, as listening becomes a more diverse and enacted choice with a wider potential than mere hearing, we will begin to take stock of whether our understanding of nature and countryside is or ever was based on a stable reality. over the course of the year I visited leigh woods there seemed an invisible barrier between myself and the locale. Eventually I gathered around 40 recordings that represented various aspects of the woods and that communicated something of its position. A selection of these were used in a three sectioned commission exploring the contemporary and historical use of the woods. this release uses some of the field recordings to form the two ‘a quiet position’ pieces, which can be listened to anywhere, including as you sit in or walk through leigh woods, if you happen to visit. Also included are some of the individual recordings and a map showing the locations. 

commissioned by: National Trust / Trust New Art Bristol / MAYK

Jez riley French - 'room tone'

eg049

available now

recordings of architectural acoustics, locales filtered through buildings

recorded with JrF contact microphones, geophones and conventional microphones

sections of the work were exhibited at Continuo Associazione Culturale gallery, Udine , Italy 

'room tone' comes amidst a sustained and intense period of creativity for Jez riley French....the subtlety, the fantastical attention to listening and bringing new aural experiences to his audience grows more and more obvious with each release'

'....just when you think JrF has opened your ears as wide as they can go, he reveals yet more'

'a simply stunning release....at first I can hardly hear anything other than the low throb of the geophone recordings but, as with anything of value, the more I listen the more that is revealed, not least of which is the way the sounds sit alongside ones actual surroundings, as Jez intends, without even attempting to dominate them'

new album of hydrophone based recordings

available now as a limited edition cd and digital download

lengthy negotiations, running to months then years, were needed for 2 recording sessions to take place inside the structures of the humber bridge - directly under the carriageway and in the north bank footing tower. eventually permission was granted and, for the first time, a private individual was allowed to make sounds recordings.

care was taken to choose the specific locations and the set the equipment for recording. my normal way of working is to be in the location listening and to record when the moment feels right, but on these occasions that was not possible, as only maintenance and inspection teams are allowed to stay in these restricted spaces.

so, after positioning the contact mics and conventional microphones, I pressed record and returned to the main bridge offices. 4 hours later I was escorted back to retrieve my equipment and, hopefully, 4 hours of recordings. what was actually gathered was around 1 1/2 hours of usable material and a 2 1/2 hour recording of an inspection team walking around the recording locations discussing various technical, structural details. whilst frustrating on one level, it is this kind of unplanned for situation that makes field recording a creative act rather than a mere technical exercise.

the piece presented here features two sections of the recording sessions, in 2008: firstly under the road carriageway and then in the north footing tower. 

the 1st edition sold out in just a couple of months !

2nd edition now available:

'In the Field - the art of field recording'

by Cathy Lane and Angus Carlyle.

240 page book, hand sewn with flaps.

conversations with Manuela Barile, Angus Carlyle, Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, Viv Corringham, Peter Cusack, Steven Feld, Felicity Ford, Jez riley French, Antye Greie, Christina Kubisch, Cathy Lane, Francisco López, Annea Lockwood, Andrea Polli, Ian Rawes, Lasse-Marc Riek, Hiroki Sasajima, Davide Tidoni, Hildegard Westerkamp and Jana Winderen. 

cover photo by my daughter (proud dad moment !) Pheobe riley Law

£12 + postage and packing

book + postage options

with UK postage £14.95 GBP with Europe postage £17.95 GBP with Rest of world postage £19.95 GBP

field recording, in all its forms, has been through incredible creative growth in the last few decades & yet its essential power to engage us in the act & art of listening remains inextricably linked to its subtle simplicity, its ability to make us listen ever more closely to the world in which we move by making us stop for a time....

during 2013 I curated several audio screenings - playback sessions of field recording based work - this collection gathers some of those pieces and, in my opinion, offers a fascinating insight into some of the varied approaches taken by the artists / recordists involved.

http://engravedglass.bandcamp.com/album/a-quiet-position-screened-1

'burning a million - soundtrack'