“evaporate (verb): 1. to transition from a liquid state into a gaseous state. 2. (figuratively) to disappear.” Music can’t really be said to disappear, because it is never really there, visually speaking. And yet, some pieces of music are less there than others. The claims made by Celer’s music on being there seem more tenuous than most, as if it were hanging on to presence by a thread, pulling towards silence. The music of Stephan Mathieu similarly lacks thereness, yet leaves the listener in no doubt that it WAS. Celer’s music does not even have this. A wisp of smoke.

“wonder (verb): 1. to ponder something.” If the music imposes itself lightly, the listener’s thoughts are free to wander. A whole ten minutes or more from either of these two long tracks can slip by without being noticed. The warm, quiet sounds encourage meandering, drifting, daydream. And yet, when attention returns to the music, it is to find that nothing has changed – the puzzle remains unsolved. The door still stands open, and what awaits on the other side of the threshold remains to be seen. This tips wondering into wonder.

“sublimate (verb): 1. To change state from a solid to a gas (or from a gas to a solid) without passing through the liquid state.” Go straight, do not pass go, do not receive £200. Because it happens very, very fast, this change, so fast you missed it the first time (and you thought the music was slow!). In the blink of an eye – vapour. It is warm and damp against your face, your ears. You could not take hold of it, any more than you could your own shadow. You will not be whistling it in the shower. It is fast. Yet afterwards something lingers in the atmosphere for longer than the memory of a catchy tune. “2. To purify or refine a substance through such a change of state.” To touch, to almost touch, the sublime. Until a breeze blows in through the still-open door and billows it away.

“Evaporate and Wonder” is released on Experimedia in limited 12” LP and download editions. Dictionary definitions courtesy of Wiktionary.org.

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