This LP is the first release from young Melbourne-based composer Robert McDougall, presenting four electroacoustic studies, the fruits of many hours of private sonic research and improvisation. Simple electronics, acoustic instruments, field recordings and textural manipulations are subtly processed, fragmented and iterated into patiently evolving forms. Eschewing the jump-cut dynamics of academic electroacoustics while making use of a large variety of source material, McDougall allows the elements of his compositions to creep gently from background to foreground, layers of sound gradually transforming themselves in the manner of Eliane Radigue's synthesized spaces. His compositions have an environmental character reminiscent of the sound-work of Rolf Julius, heterogeneous elements forming themselves into blocks of sound that seem to take on a spatial aspect. Occasionally instrumental sounds come to the fore, displaying a wandering sense of melodicism that, whether on piano or acoustic guitar, is reminiscent of the work of Stefano Pilia, Loren Connors or even Harold Budd. Angklung Study (After Anne Boyd) #3, the namesake of McDougall's label, derives from a piano piece by the Australian composer Anne Boyd, which itself makes use of the tuning of the Indonesian angklung; McDougall's piece is something of a tribute to the influence of the distinctive tonalities and temporalities of Southeast Asian music on the 20th century Western avant-garde, an influence which can be felt in his own compositional approach.
The first release on McDougall's own Angklung Editions label, Unfinished Studies is presented in a full colour sleeve, on heavy duty black vinyl cut at Dubplates + Mastering, Berlin and mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.