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A Line in Space

by Ash Cooke

supported by
Marc Masters
Marc Masters thumbnail
Mark Callan
Mark Callan thumbnail
Clair
Clair thumbnail
/
1.
Content of Imposition 03:40
2.
Switch Turpin 02:31
3.
Tongue With Stitch 03:24
4.
Rontacostal Shirts 02:23
5.
Carrot Slippers 02:01
6.
Crest of Season 02:28
7.
Glimmer of Modernism 02:27
8.
These Mortal Veins 03:10
9.
Expressive Regressive 05:46
10.
Hedge Peaking 05:23
11.
So Blunders Up Once More Till By & By The Darkness Pleated 05:09
12.
Clork Interpretation 01:51

about

Paint has no boundaries and no rules, after all it’s just paint. It mixes with whatever it comes into contact with, it is constantly in flux, the colours produced are rarely judged as being wrong or right and the results are never identical.

I like to think that the same can be also said of sound through free improvisation and for me improvisation on the guitar.

The brush in hand or finger on string.

The creative processes work in parallel but often cross over in terms of gesture, sensitivity, and depth.

INVESTIGATIONS

I undertook exploratory work to examine the tactile, visual, and sonic properties of painting and guitar playing.

To begin with I made close recordings and videos of dry brushes on paper and then of brushes on guitar strings. I also did the same with a brush loaded with paint. My aim was to examine the sounds and physical movements of the brush and question how that might be expressed in my guitar playing in terms of the following:

i. The depth and shape of the line
ii. The sound and accents of the bristles
iii. Drips, scuffs, and opacity of the paint

I tried to imagine how the character of the painted line could transfer to the guitar, texture & tone being shaped by fingers. pitch, sustain. How could I translate the sound of the brush and paint on paper into fluid guitar parts. How could the physical movements made whilst using a brush parallel that of the physical act of guitar playing?

Referencing the visual studies, I began to record guitar improvisations based on my observations. The tracks also incorporated the recordings of the brush noises that I’d captured earlier.

I tried to imagine that I was painting with sound.

At the same time, I took these recordings and began to paint a series of small paintings on paper in response to the physical movements made whilst playing. I wanted the paintings to express the depth and shape of the sounds created on guitar and the gestural movements of the fingers on the fretboard.

A PDF booklet containing the paintings is included with the download of this album

credits

released November 21, 2023

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all rights reserved

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Ash Cooke Wales, UK


Ash Cooke is an internationally recognised improvising guitarist and artist from North Wales.

Initially making his name in the 90’s Welsh band Derrero Ash has spent the last 20 years steadily building a reputation as an experimental musician and visual artist.

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