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Colin Andrew Sheffield: First Thus The title of Colin Andrew Sheffield's debut solo album First Thus derives from a term used by sellers and collectors to refer to a book labeled a first edition despite having been available previously in a different form; this seemingly contradictory state of affairs comes about with the involvement of a new publisher or the addition of a forward or introduction to the book. It's therefore an entirely apt title choice for a recording that is itself new though wholly constructed from already-issued recordings. On First Thus (recorded between 2001-04), Sheffield contracted, expanded, and layered brief sections of the originals to form the album's four ambient pieces, three of them epic in length. While admittedly the approach is parasitic, he catalyses the original elements into new settings that retain scant audible evidence of their sources (melodic material is most conspicuously heard in “Like a Memory” but as distant, almost subliminal traces); calling the album a translation, then, doesn't accurately reflect the extent of the original material's transformation. In fact, not only are the sources unidentifiable but so too are the sounds themselves; the blurry layering makes it impossible to know whether orchestral strings, for example, comprised part of the original sonic pool. In the longest piece, the 23-minute “Disappear from View,” glacially surging waves of whistling blur escalate in volume and intensity. Had he not created the piece from existing recorded material, Sheffield conceivably could have positioned an ultra-sensitive microphone and recording device at a deserted seashore and used the resultant wind and wave sounds as raw material for the final piece. Titles like “Miles Away” and “Like a Memory” evoke the album's ethereal style of storm-swept, slowly-unfurling ambient haze. In keeping with such titles, however, it bears mentioning that this music also disappears rather quickly from memory once it's over. June 2005 |
