Mark Templeton – Standing on a Hummingbird

Those familiar with the granular acoustics of Tim Hecker, Fennesz and Mitchell Akiyama will find safe harbour in this new label’s introductory release. Albertan Mark Templeton’s palette starts with the guitar, banjo and accordion, all of which quickly discorporate and enter a new digital eminence of colours. Edits are extreme in their detail yet an unhurried calm governs each track. Pieces like “Pigeon Hurt” and the title track make halting progress as each chord and string is made to stutter and backtrack before pushing on. Still progress is always present in the ghostly pulse of song structure that sends signals from various depths. Templeton is equally attentive to the digital overflow of accidents from over amplification and dangling shards of trimmed noises. He skillfully folds these into the mix along with incidental room sounds to blur the inside computer/outside world distinctions. While comparisons to the above mentioned artists are easy to make, this work is seldom predictable. Templeton manages to create work that follows feverish dream logic, with colours that brighten and suddenly fade and details that transfigure without altering their basic character. A welcome addition to the canon.

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