Over the course of several months, Áine O’Dwyer was given access to the pipe organ in St Mark’s Church, Islington while the cleaners were at work. Primarily a harpist, this was a rare opportunity to grapple with the “king of instruments” and apply her sense of melodic, structured improvisation in a very different context.
No matter if you’re in the middle of nowhere or the city, atmospheric sounds surround us all, and the more you focus on them, the more demanding and overwhelming they may become. Thus, the improvisational intention Áine O’Dwyer keys out while recording Music For Church Cleaners vol. I and II live, submits both her audience AND those listening to the recordings to her art. Picture it the opposite way: you and some pals are on a hike and stumble across a church being cleaned, while it’s also emitting sounds, not realizing you’re being recorded. All you really hear is this organ from the church, and it becomes tedious and potentially directionless, so in astounding silence you and your pals just listen, becoming absorbed within the moment. This is the same effect Music For Church Cleaners vol. I and II has over it’s listeners by “employing” players to the recording.
Áine O’Dwyer’s scaling, repetition, and versatility are the absorbing properties of “We Plough The Fields And Scatter” for listeners, drawing them into listening beyond the pipes, picking up clattering, chattering, laughing, vacuuming, and potentially clock setting — which is what I heard, but am not sure there are clocks in chuch — all being conducted spontaneously (or one could say modern life inspired improvisation) by these players. Now, the listener is who sits in the field with their friends, witnessing a masterpiece of fate; “Oh, these people are just folk of the area. Tyrese with the vacuum does the chili booth during the fall fest. Nancy outside with the kids doubles as our childcare expert and pub keeper. The two whispering to the priest are the Lamar twins back from college.”
MIE Music inspiring the imagination, like always, but it’s a little more public in Áine O’Dwyer’s We Plough The Fields And Scatter, out on 2xLP January 19, pre-order here, and listen to “We Plough The Fields And Scatter” below:
• MIE Music: http://mie.limitedrun.com