Very Fast & Very Far

In 1977 the US government sent two unmanned probes -- Voyager I & Voyager II -- on a one-way journey into interstellar space. On board each craft, a carefully etched golden record containing sonic artefacts of life on earth, including fragments of Bach & traditional musics, sounds of animals & nature, an audio realisation of the 'music of the sphere's' & children's laughter. As the 40th anniversary of the mission loomed, the three artists, working here together for the first time, locked themselves in a dark studio, armed with three things: a gleaming desktop computer & microphone running custom software (pulled from a previous gallery installation by Tim Bruniges), a pair of keyboards from the era, & a laboriously hunted- down playlist of fragments from the original golden record (this was before the Ozma boxset existed...). The setup was such that Bruniges & Day could each hear McGuigan's collaged Voyager excerpts but not each other's responses, like a sonic exquisite corpse. Each artist brings insights from their diverse extra-musical practices, sound art, film making & writing, which lends a keenly sculptural approach to the material. The results are mysterious & evocative, like a submerged fever dream. The release includes a poignant lyric essay 'Termination Shock' that ruminates on the Voyager program, comparing the implicit melancholy of its steady recession with a long-distance relationship coming apart. Julian Day (New York) is an artist, composer & writer. Their work frames sound as a social & civic practice. This plays out in performance, installation & video. Works often call for large forces - 10s to 100s of community volunteers, extended durational processes - 24hr performances, or sometimes both. Key projects include Super Critical Mass & An Infinity Room. They have presented work at Tate Modern, Whitechapel Gallery, Royal Academy of Music, Cafe Oto, MASS MoCA, & Sydney Opera House. & featured in the California Pacific Triennial, Asia Pacific Triennial & Prague Quadrennial. Day has also hosted radio programs for BBC Radio 3 & ABC Classic FM, including the long-running New Music Up Late. Interviewees include Vito Acconci, Janet Cardiff, Blixa Bargeld, Laurie Anderson, Elliott Carter & Pauline Oliveros. Tim Bruniges (Sydney) is a musician & visual artist. His installations & performances make use of live, regenerating sound to foreground the act of listening as an inherently creative & inclusive activity. His works have been exhibited in Australia, USA, UK, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Iceland, Russia & Dubai, & written about in Artsy, Hyperallergic, New York Magazine & The New York Times. Bruniges holds a PhD for his research on live, regenerating sound. In 2019 he was artist in residence at ISCP, New York & in 2022 will be artist in residence at EMPAC in Troy, New York. Matt McGuigan (Sydney) is a musician, sound-engineer, film-maker & founder of record label & production house, Hospital Hill. As a guitarist he has worked across genres, from being a soloist with the Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra & Adelaide Symphony to working with Chris Bailey (The Saints) & his ongoing duo with Jaimie Leonarder (Mu Mesons). As a sound engineer Matt has produced recordings for Merzbow, Jandek, Heather Leigh & Peter Brotzmann, Chris Abrahams, JACK Quartet & Oren Ambarchi. In 2017 he was the sound engineer & music editor for Jane Campion's tv series Top Of The Lake: China Girl. His film work has included a documentary for RVNG Intl. on French artist Ariel Kalma, as well as clips for Full of Hell, Alessandro Cortini, Fourtet & Tangents. Matt's 2020 film with performance artist Brian Fuata 'a sheet asail' won the ANTI Festival Live Art Prize (Finland). The record label arm of Hospital Hill has released 14 projects to date. Tracklist/Credits - 1) 55 Sacrificial Greetings [13:48] 2) Morning Star & Devil Bird [7:17] 3) First Stream [3:36] Recorded & mixed by Matt McGuigan Mastered & cut by Helmut Erler, D&M Berlin Design & layout by WBYK Info - Artist - Tim Bruniges, Julian Day, Matt McGuigan Album - Very Fast & Very Far Label - Hospital Hill