Turntable manipulator Jeck has done more to cement the reputation of his chosen sound tool than any other contemporary arts figure since, perhaps, Christian Marclay. Although Jeck's sonic constructions don't share anything like a common aesthetic with Marclay's work, both artists break through their instrument's tonal limitations to initiate whole new contexts. Augmented with bass pedals, delays, some small electronic keyboards and the sundry effect (most notably looping devices), Jeck's soundworks are expansive, thought-provoking, sometimes poetic creations that manage to wrestle great creative ideas out of aural topographies whose origins become mutated beyond recognition.
Based on a poem that dramatizes the drowning of refugee nuns in the late 19th century, An Ark of the Listener bears some stylistic resemblances to another deeply inspired and respected work, Gavin Bryars' The Sinking of the Titanic, inasmuch as Jeck erects a poignant near-narrative that enables him to sketch out his ideas in an epic, literary fashion. "Ambient" only in the notion of sounds meticulously rendered and slowly wrought, broadly cinematic in the true sense, this is a stunning recording of immense emotion, arcing tragedy and subtle power. Though it builds its sonic foundation on a bed of weathered bells, "Ark" suggests a calming phase and place before the onset of angry storms, as foghorns moan in the background and dark silences beckon. "The All of Water" immediately brings to mind some of the more aquatic artists who reside on the Mystery Sea label, as shifting tides of sound repel light and embrace gathering darkness.
Jeck's prior work, in retrospect, seems to have been but prelude for this all-encompassing birthing of sound and vision; like the finest literature often reveals, minutiae can be found between lines, between things unsaid and unspoken, between words and couched between thoughts. As mysterious squalls of drones rise and fall, as Jeck gels the darker hues of his tones to swirl more ominously, the beauty that is revealed here feels nearly overwhelming in its grandeur. The ability to wrench such soul from mere platter and stylus is something Jeck should be highly recognized for. Utterly bracing stuff.
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