Andrew Anderson, Colin Andrew Sheffield

Big Tip! "Sanctuary Loops" is a single 72-minute piece based on original field recordings made by Andrew Anderson of chickens rescued from slaughter, as they leisurely scratch, peck, and otherwise commune with one another at the animal sanctuary where they now live. Anderson created 32 brief treatments of these recordings and sent them to Colin Sheffield who added a few plundered samples related to the established theme(s), and then processed everything further to create the finished piece.

The track's construction is based on a series of interconnected loops of the original field recordings morphed into abstraction. The motifs are repeated, sometimes exactly, sometimes altered, like recurring dreams and persistent memories. The end result is a kind of impressionistic narrative told from the chickens' perspective: Life at the sanctuary is mostly calm, though filled with an uneasy tranquility. Confounding, frightening memories of experiences prior to rescue still arise at times. The specifics may be foggy, but the sensations of old traumas are never completely forgotten. Considering the theme of animal liberation (and the presence of chickens), the most logical choice to create the cover art for "Sanctuary Loops" was obvious. Masami Akita very generously created new images for the album, based on previous collagework and the concepts related to these recordings.

The final audio master was carefully completed by Lawrence English.

Until every cage is empty…

CD in a full colour sleeve designed by Masami Akita (Merzbow). 72 minutes. Edition of 300 copies. Auf Abwegen, aatp107.