The recordings in this album were recorded through a technique of improvisation that I call loop-based improvisation. In this technique I compose solely through the spontaneous formations of loops in a performance context. As a method of composition, I rely on the ebb and flow of the asymmetrical relationships that the loops have with one another to create irregular rhythms and beats, hiding and revealing moments in the sound world intermittently as the loops persist. This album, entitled Petroglyphs, is therefore an expression of the micro sonic events appearing, disappearing and reappearing again over time in the sound world of each recording. In cave archaeology, the discovery of petroglyphs are effected by the movements of dirt and dust that shift over time to reveal etchings on cave walls that may have been obscured from plain sight. The sounds in my compositions, as such, are like the engravings on cave walls. Conceptually, the cave paintings that are obscured and revealed according to the conditions of their environment inspire the manifestation of the loops in my sound world. As each loop is formed spontaneously, they often manifest in the performance in imperfect ways. Different loop patterns and loop lengths create different rhythms and textures in the sound world. As more loops are added in, they engage in an asymmetrical dialogue with each other that move in and out of sync, clashing and colliding with each other, coming into agreement momentarily only to disagree again later. Yet, the arrhythmic correspondence of these loops creates a new rhythm that fuses together in a new harmony that is based on disharmony. But the loop to me is deeper than just a compositional tool for sound and musical works: repetition is a principle of life and living itself. The loops in my compositions represent the repetitive nature of our lived experiences. In our lives, we move in and out of sync, sometimes clashing and colliding, in agreement and disagreement with the loops and rhythms of other objects, both living and non living, as thinking and feeling beings.

All the pieces in this album were recorded through my typical performance set up, which comprises various forms of sound players and sound loopers, both analog and digital. I consider my main instrument to be the combination of the cassette tape player and the guitar loop pedal. At the heart of the improvisation of this technique is the veil concealing the tape header, the cassette tape housing, and the instrumentising of the cassette player’s transport buttons as eyes searching through the reel of tape for a moment to loop, a searching that is done through the act of listening. These technologies hide the sonorous material that are the sounds magnetised onto the tape. The tape header and the gestures behind the transport buttons are led solely through the act of listening. In any given performance, as it was in these recordings, loops are established by first winding and rewinding the tapes to random points, and moments are eventually captured into a loop, based on listening and feeling in the performance moment. This describes the element of the cassette tape that allows improvisation to happen on two levels; improvising loops, through an improvised manner of selecting moments to loop. Thus, this style of improvisation is tied to the cassette tape as a specific medium. For the formation of digital loops. I rely on the Elektron Octatrack, a powerful 8-track digital sampler, which is set up in such a way that four channels contain sound material, and the other four channels act as loopers that are assigned individually to each of the first four channels to extract looped fragments from them. Improvised looping through the Octatrack is treated with the same improvising spirit as with my ‘cassette tape player X loop pedal’ instrument, and although the Octatrack allows me to have a more visual approach to the sounding and looped materials, the formation of digital loops are still led primarily through the act of listening in the moment of performance. When other methods of improvising with sounds and loops are engaged digitally, such as with the use of audio granulators, the same spirit of improvisation is applied as a means of artistic (and spiritual) discipline.