2006-AUGUST-10, Furthernoise, England

Rob Curgenven is a sonic nomad who takes much of his inspiration from the 'Subtleties underlying living in challenging landscapes and climates'. He should know too as he has spent the best part of the last 6 years living in a small outback town in Australia's Northern Territory working in community cultural development with remote indigenous communities. In 2004 he headed to Europe where he spent the best part of a year in Berlin living & performing live and working on material for his debut release Cichaczem 'Something done quietly or as a surprise' (in Polish) for the german label Privatelektro.

The introduction to the release Exit:city begins as gentle piano tones emerge in pools of sustain as pure ambient dreamscapes pulse and morph into each other delivering an audio perspective that is both relaxing and portentous. This feeling of what might be to come opens out onto a field recording of post thunderstorm ambience at Litchfield National Park (NT) in Still, and has the effect of eluding to that most common of senses, being able to smell the aroma of recent rain settling on parched earth or grass after a recent downpour. As more piano drones wash over the landscapes natural acoustic you become aware of a quiet symbiosis, where neither found sound or generated tone dominate and you are held in a gentle audio suspension of time. This is the kind of subtlety that really works, becoming an almost total transference of realities, wherever the listener is. In the last track, Winter the piano tones take on a glassier almost icy tone probably effected by the inclusion of higher frequencies in the mix, part of which is a fluffy recording of snow falling on a trip to Poland and once again you get very real sense place within this mix of tones and field recordings.

Reading the sleeve notes I notice that the entire release was mixed without the aid of a wave editor or processors which only goes to show what can be done by hand. It also lends a sincerity that is often lost through layered patches of effects.
The release is available through shop.privatelektro.de

Review by Roger Mills

2006-JULY-25, Disquiet, USA

...heavy rotation:
Robert Curgenven's recent album, Cichaczem (released late last year on the Privatelektro label), takes its name from the Polish term for "something done quietly or as a surprise." Its three tracks are absolutely beautiful distillations of sound, mixing the familiar textures of field recordings, including falling snow and the period after a thunderstorm, with hyper-sensitive recordings of a grand piano that suggest the open spaces only alluded to by most synthesizers. ...

By Marc Weidenbaum



2006-FEB-10, DE BUG, Germany

Ich bin froh, dass es solche Alben noch gibt. 30 Tracks, 30 Minuten, Sound der langsam unter der Tür hindurchschleicht als wäre er ein Licht, dass seine Geschwindigkeit irgendwann bei einer seiner Häutungen verloren hat und nichts interessiert einen mehr ausser dem glitzernd schwingenden Boden aus Klang, der sich da zwischen den Ohren als ein Raum festzimmert, in dem es nichts mehr zum Festhalten geben muss. Danke.

bleed •••••

2006-JAN-20, Neural Magazine, Italy

Droni ambientali, soffuse elaborazioni d'uno spurio sentimento elettronico, strutture sonore eteree, assai minimali nelle sequenze dilatate ad arte, dove solo prestando attenzione è possibile riconoscere l'utilizzo d'un pianoforte, strumento alla quale Robert Curgenven è ritornato dopo le ultime sperimentazioni fatte soprattutto di field recording. L'approccio allo strumento citato è davvero unico, depurato d'ogni gestualità nella modulazione delle forme che si fanno astratte, iterate nei moduli armonici suggestivi e densi d'umori. Suoni processati senza alcuna sovrapposizione di tipo digitale, con caleidoscopiche risonanze, ora quieti, a nascondere la tensione trattenuta, diluita nelle emozioni dalle lievi emergenze che si riversano in mille rivoli costituiti dalle registrazioni di natura prevalentemente organica poi docilmente arricchite con un millimetrico lavoro di mixaggio. Solo tre le tracce, poco più di sei, cinque e diciannove minuti, ma quello che qui conta non è certo la quantità.

Aurelio Cianciotta

[ Rob Curgenven Artist Side ]

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