There was a different time when Vancouver-based singer and composer Ian William Craig endured a cataclysmic failure in equipment, and as he explained in a recent interview with Decoder, the required improvising that immediately followed led to a memorable performance at Hopscotch 2015. There, Craig made due with what he had, the tape that he was (presumably still) able to use didn’t enlarge and burst off the reel like a chemical reaction, and reflectively, the whole experience got him thinking about building his own reasonably future-proof hardware. He’s traditionally acquired tape decks on their last legs, and while that’s a fitting real-life analogy for his endearingly decayed music, c’mon. We all need some predictability in our lives.
But not yet! IWC’s newest release is out digitally and on cassette right now, and as the album description details, it was “recorded, performed and mixed… entirely on a customised Fostex X-15 as it slowly died.” The mortality of his music is even more evident this time around as a result. A Turn of Breath and Cradle for the Wanting might even sound like musically-manifested espresso shots by comparison.
Look for Zugzwang for Fostex on Patient Sounds, which is also listenable in full below.
Zugzwang for Fostex tracklisting:
01. Out of Book
02. Parry That with More Geometry
03. The Lower Boards
04. Zwischenzug
05. Lost on Time, Part 1
06. Banking on the Activity of the Pieces
07. Material (En Prise)
8. Living on Increment
9. A Hash of the Ending
10. Lost on Time, Part 2
More about: Ian William Craig
