Giraffe - Hear Here

Another from eh? (29): Giraffe is Joseph Jaros and Luke Polipnick who created Hear Here in real time. There is no indication of what they were playing with during the time that passed, but essentially is seems to be electronic things that make noises - probably computers, effects machines, radios, feedback. The recording then seems to have come directly to us.

7/18/07 approximately 8:30 pm is a short track that opens the album, with soft noises, electronic static, guitar loop and voices. This pressages a later track but there is a bit to come in between. Lucid twilight curmudgeon and Forever (1 and 2) are tracks of electronic noises - tones, scratching, electro-humms, scriggles, rumble burrs, processed voices (forever, for example, in the eponymous), squalls and squeels. I first listened at a loud volume to hear the parts, and found that a lot of it was harsh, disorganised noise, but with some more stable subtler parts. Another listening at a lower volume, where it was somewhat anonymous, and furtehr in the background, was more satisfying but it is still largely a melange created by a couple o' guys having fun

We then move into Static blanket transmission which takes the gentler and more consistent elements (particularly heard in the second half of Lucid twighlight) and pays them more heed, based around the radio, with squrls and squiggles, thrums and buzzes over it, but within a more consistent palette and subdued variation. Pauline is a shorter one based on soft rumbles and almost music tones (that echo around your skull) with some edgy sounds behind, before the long final track (over 17 minutes). 7/18/07 approximately 8:33 pm moves on from Static blanket and takes the subtle weaving and playing within a radio recording to an extended length to create a strong piece of restrained ambience: there are sounds in here that you do want to hear. These two tracks are like a journey through the night accompanied by a shortwave radio with its own mind.

The coherent, more restrained sections of this album are excellent: and they make up the bulk of it. The noisier, seemingly less considered tracks have their own attraction, but they set up a barrier to the (this) listener through their hyperactivity. There is enough here, however, to offer most ears some satisfying, interesting and confronting listening. Play loud to disorient and confuse yourself, or more quietly for a perhaps more rewarding experience.