Long term close OTO affliliate John Chantler treats us to a new work of deftly arranged textural synthesis, seeing soaring drones, weaving harmonic interplay, fluttering high ends and rolling snare drum work meet and be driven forth by a burning emotional core.

We’d been thinking about getting a dog for a couple of years, but it was always tricky to work out a good time amongst the regular travel. We eventually settled on trying to make it happen after coming back from some concerts in Australia in June/July 2020 where I’d also planned to premiere the speaker/synthesizer objects I’ve been building for the last little while and that form the basis of all of the music for this piece. Australia was very quick to shutdown at the pandemic’s onset so the tour prospect vanished and the dog prospect moved into our immediate future instead. I see now that I replied to Fielding Hope’s invitation to make something for the Takuroku series the same day that Eli came to live with us in April 2020 and didn’t really anticipate how much his joyous presence and the ensuing impact of the bigger picture would make difficult what would have previously been a simple task. So, here is my piece — at the tail end of things. - John Chantler

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John Chantler - Digital synthesis, speakers, percussion.

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Recorded July/August 2021, Spaden / Sweden.

Cover design by Oliver Barrett