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The latest album by Marc Behrens is the end result of his attempt to understand his artistic choices in light of thier possible subconscious meanings. Regarding the process that led up to this album, Behrens writes, "I was reflecting on my own past, in which there was a period of occupying myself with plastic model airplanes out of fascination with the technology (as I understood it)... it occoured to me that electronic music has been very much linked with military technology, the latest of them being the computer. Many of our contemporary electronic tools are byproducts of military technology and, unfortuately, application. Still a bit unsure of about whether my early affection for military technology had different motivations, I saw a chance for sublimation in my musical work."
Beginning in 1996, Behrens sorted through his catalog of late 1980s and early 1990s four-track tapes and field recordings, and set to examine his older analogue sounds through his current computer-based compositional aesthetic. By keeping his previous interest in military technology in mind, he preserved a sense of remoteness and removed examination in the music. Sounds seem to come from a great distance, possibly reminiscent of pilots sitting alone in planes over enemy territory, or of lonely sailors aboard submarines far below the population they are defending. In light of recent events, Behrens' questioning of the implications of his own decision to appropriate instruments of possible military origin for his art is especially poignant.
Marc Behrens has been active as a sound and installation artist since the mid 1980s. Currently based in Frankfurt, Germany, he has exhibited or performed throughout Europe and Japan, and has worked with artists such as Francisco Lopez, bernhard gunter, Atom Heart, and Nicklaus Heyduck. His previous releases have included "Advanced Environmental Control" (trente oiseaux, GER), "Final Ballet" (Raster-Noton, GER), and "Contraction" (Digital Narcis, JAP). His piece "Revelation" appeared on Intransitive's "VARIIOUS" compilation last year. "Elapsed Time" is his first domestic US album.
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