Robert Hampson

Touch releases an album by UK experimental musician Robert Hampson. Before his involvement with acousmatic sound, Hampson was the originator behind such guitar-based acts such as Loop and Main. He was also a member of Godflesh, and collaborated with Jim O'Rourke and Organum. Vectors features three pieces, two of which were commissioned by the Group du Recherches Musicales (GRM) which had their debut performances on the Acousmonium in Paris. "Umbra" (2006) is a 16-channel piece that had its debut performance on the Acousmonium -- GRM's speaker orchestra -- at Salle Olivier Messiaen, Maison de Radio France, Paris. The umbra (Latin: shadow) is the darkest part of a shadow. From within the umbra, the source of light is completely concealed by the occulting body. In astronomy, an observer in the umbra is said to be in the shadows experiencing total eclipse. This phenomenon is a direct influence on the work in the sense of the way that sounds are cast in the shadow of others, slowly becoming more distinct as the piece progresses, materializing and then casting a shadow of their own. "Ahead -- Only The Stars" (2007) was commissioned by Vibrö for a performance at the Planetarium de Poitiers in 7.1 Surround ratio. Inspired by and dedicated to the astronauts of the NASA Mercury Missions space program and possibly the greatest pilot ever, Chuck Yeager. After the introduction of jets blasting across the soundstage, the piece is then interspersed with radio transmissions (communication bleeps and static, with dialogue removed) that form the framework. "Dans Le Lointain" (2008), also commissioned for GRM, is a 2-channel Stereo piece. It also had its debut performance on the Acousmonium at Salle Olivier Messiaen, Maison de Radio France, Paris. Sounds of shortwave radios, recorded by Hampson in the early '80s and recently rediscovered on a cassette, are manipulated through very traditional techniques utilized by early tape experimental works of the GRM and collected with more modern forms of digital manipulation. The title ("In The Distance") refers to the distance radio signals can travel, but also the distance of time that elapsed since the shortwave recordings were made on a four-track recorder and dubbed onto cassette by Hampson around 1981/1982.