Granular Synthesis is based on the principle of subdividing a sound source into various chunks of microsound. In theory, this gradual destruction/processing of a given signal could be used to produce an infinite number of timbres and effects with only a single short sound. As sample lengths are cut shorter and shorter, the hidden acoustics of a particular sound begin to reveal themselves and take on a life of their own while retaining vague sonic signifiers of their original source. In this sense, granular synthesis simultaneously allows us to truly know the DNA of a single sound while completely clouding it at the same time.
David Paha’s Fiction Wisdom is built on the concurrent microscopic and obstructive nature of granular synthesis, and throughout the album’s seven tracks, Paha manages to create a mesmerizingly exhaustive deconstruction of a sustained piano chord. Opener “Violet onset” plays as somewhat of a prelude to the other tracks by isolating and looping the album’s quite lovely sound source for nearly six minutes after emerging from silence. From there, Fiction Wisdom explodes this sound over its remaining tracks, which glitch and process the initial chord into slabs of psychoacoustic drone on the title track and eventually lead to brutal distorted arpeggiating on “Vague Stimulant.” Closer “Bardo’s” quiet, pitched looping seems to hint at Paha’s attempt to reassemble the original sound source while still being thoroughly deconstructed.
However, despite the radical directions that Paha’s original sample takes, these tracks still maintain hints of that initial chord underneath their clipped hypnotic textures. The somewhat tonal aspects gives these pieces a surprising sheen that comes close to approximating a HNW-obsessed Daniel Lopatin or a fictional collaboration between Nicholas Szczepanik and Kevin Drumm. Overall, Fiction Wisdom is a truly mind blowing examination of granular synthesis’ potential as a simultaneously minimalist and maximalist compositional technique, and it rides this contradiction to further examine the contradictory nature of what it means to know a sound.
Fiction Wisdom is out on Bandcamp now. You can stream the album in its entirety below:
• David Paha: https://davidjamespaha.bandcamp.com
More about: David Paha
