RICHARD CHARTIER - ‘A FIELD FOR MIXING’
Published: The Age, A2, 48 Hours, April 10, 2010.
Richard Chartier
A Field for Mixing
(Room40/Vitamin)
Richard Chartier’s practice rests not in music but in the charting of urban sonic space. Using high-definition microphones and various effects, the American sound artist records, layers and subtly treats aural data that otherwise rests on the precipice of perception. Indeed, Chartier’s unusual art could be considered in terms of the sound of silence – minimalist and reductionist to a point where we are engaging wholly with the acoustic qualities and peripheries of specific architecture and space. While it requires a patient, headphone-only listen, new work A Field for Mixing is an incredibly engaging and realised document, given half a chance. Recorded in Australia, Japan and the US, the 50-minute piece gradually draws you deeper into its layers of texture and tone, with Chartier slowly adding and withdrawing fields of sound. The details of the various environments become increasingly striking the further the record plays out, immersing and consuming lovely anecdotal moments – distant voices, traffic and birdsong – before allowing them back up for air.
DAN RULE
