12/29/2016
Interview: Portland's Foreign Accents- Experimental Music and Sound Art chats with Samson Stilwell and Ben Glas about their new radio series, Soundspace on Freeform Portland, which premiered a new work by Roarke Menzies on their inaugural broadcast in November:
"The first installation for Soundspace was Roarke Menzies‘ "Anamnesis Study: The Little Bell," a loop-based ambient piece which I caught on November 6th from the comfort of home. Roarke’s broadcast, which manipulated an obscure recording of a Russian folk song to highly evocative effect, was a real pleasure to hear not least because of my admiration for his new album Corporeal. [...] Tell me about how you guys got in contact with Roarke and about your interpretation of the installation. Was the first broadcast the first time you had heard the piece yourselves?
Samson: I heard Roarke’s work for the first time about a year ago when he came to play a show in Portland. I missed the show (which oddly enough Ben was also performing at) but listened to his record Corporeal and loved it. I invited him to do a guest mix for Nocturne. Then we became pals!
Ben: And yes; the first we heard the piece was when it was first presented on air. It was a pleasant and beautiful surprise! My interpretation of the composition, in conjunction with the writing, was definitely nostalgic; I felt a deep longing for a moment in time that can be described by no words I know.
Samson: At one point in the piece the original recording, which gets warped and reworked by Roarke’s complex electronic processing, becomes almost morse code like; the pulsing signal is so precise with wordless meaning, reaching back for itself, reaching for the moment of the recording and yet knowing it will never fully be able to reach it. It’s sad but fitting that the piece was only audible twice when we aired it and now disappeared. That is unless Roarke uses it for something else."
https://foreignaccentspdx.com/2016/12/29/interview-ben-glas-and-samson-stilwell-of-soundspace/
