ABOUT "THE TEMPEST PROGNOSTICATOR"

"The Tempest Prognosticator, also known as The Leech Barometer, is a 19th-century invention by George Merryweather in which leeches are used in a barometer. The twelve leeches are kept in small bottles inside the device; when they become agitated by an approaching storm they attempt to climb out of the bottles and trigger a small hammer which strikes a bell. The likelihood of a storm is indicated by the number of times the bell is struck."

In 2010 I visited Whitby,Yorkshire with Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner). We were commissioned by Sound and Music (London) to work on a piece together but unfortunately it never eventuated. We worked on some field recordings of the ocean with homemade piezo mics I had made back in Camden - dropping them into the water and recording the crashing waves. As the original project wasn't to be... I decided to use some of the resulting sounds as part of this recording....

REVIEW:

"....Interestingly it’s probably the noisiest work he’s recorded under his Nightswimmer guise, a project that you could previously describe as being lush, even ambient electronics. Despite the agitation, the piece, which moves through numerous moods eventually finds itself in an almost shoegaze electronic noise space, engaging with static and barnacles, yet find deeply melodic moments hidden beneath the chaos. It’s a fascinating work and it’s really great to hear him work not only long form, but with some more difficult sounds and textures, and ultimately still create a work of majestic beauty. He may have set out to make an aggressive noise piece, something a world away from his back catalogue, yet ultimately it appears he can’t help himself"

BOB BAKER FISH Inpress/

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