Level 4 Unlimited Orchestra - Seoul Suspended | The Dark Outside, TDO Cassettes & Bibliotapes

Level 4 Unlimited Orchestra - Seoul Suspended

from The Dark Outside, TDO Cassettes & Bibliotapes

The city of Seoul spent most of the summer of 2021 under strict Level 4 restrictions in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Although Level 4 did not necessitate the kind of lockdowns experienced in other countries, much of the city felt emptied out. This slower, quieter version of Seoul could only ever be temporary, and therefore we wanted to capture it.

There are two distinct parts to this album: field recordings made in the city during the Level 4 period (tracks 9-16) and music layered with those recordings (tracks 1-8). Rather than trying to integrate the field recordings into the music like an instrument, we took a different approach, matching the field recordings and music almost at random. We wanted to experiment with how the music could affect the sense of place evoked in the field recordings, playing with different music styles and their impact on the character of sonic spaces.

A cassette will be produced in collaboration with The Dark Outside (thedarkoutside.bandcamp.com). The digital version of “Seoul, suspended” contains all the music tracks and long versions of the field recordings as standalone pieces. On the cassette, both sides are a continuous mix (field recordings on Side 1, music on Side 2). This is how we originally wanted the album to be heard, so we are including the continuous mixes as bonus tracks for the digital purchase.
credits
released April 1, 2022

All tracks written by Andy Wilbur.
Additional instruments by Laura Francescangeli.

level4unlimitedorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/seoul-suspended

Field recordings and acoustic instruments (metallophones, bells, sogo drum) recorded in Seoul, July - August, 2021.

Produced at The Grey Rectangle, Yeonnam-dong, Seoul.