NMC presents a new album by electroacoustic pioneer Simon Emmerson, whose music is known for its "unique voice and a refreshing sense of ingenuity" (MusicWeb International). Sound Around - both near and far at once brings together instrumental pieces with live electronics written in the 2010s alongside fixed studio-made works, surveying a range of mesmerising and complex electronic soundscapes.
The instrumental works on the album are performed by some of Emmerson's closest collaborators. They include highly personal, tailor-made pieces such as Microvariations II, a "gift to [pianist] Philip Mead" which opens the album, and the Solo Flute Quartet for Carla Rees. Of central importance is the relationship between humanity and technology, between identifiable physical sounds and captivating electronic abstractions.
Piano Ring, performed here by acclaimed Australian-born pianist Zubin Kanga, is an homage to Emmerson's teacher Roger Smalley, utilising Ring Modulation - notoriously used to create the voice of the Daleks in Doctor Who. Fearlessly experimental clarinettist Heather Roche brings to life Wind Clouds Showers, which opens with key clicks (rain) and breath noises (wind) to create a "sound ecology" which "surrounds the listener in gusts and swirls" (Emmerson).
The remaining studio-made pieces, Aeolian and Both Near and Far (at Once) are "always about liveness in some way, too" according to Emmerson. Both are compelling sonic journeys, the former evoking scenes from the epic voyage of Homer's Odyssey, the latter a walk across the composer's home city of Brighton - as Emmerson puts it: "Near and far in space, near and far in time - all at once."
