In his book ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐, Mark Fisher wrote about the two notions: While the weird is something present where it doesnโt belongโsomething from outside found on the insideโthe eerie has to do specifically with outside space. Something is eerie when there are unanswered questions about agency: Who or what is responsible for the abandonment of this zone? Who or what is crying out in the distance?
Katharina Schmidtโs ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐ข๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ป๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐โ๐ก, a single, longform track stretching to a near half hour, deftly captures this spatial sense of the eerie. The evolving drone is like coming upon a ruin, circling it, and being drawn inside. There are no surprises, no sudden horrors, just the strange pull of oscillating waveforms that paint a bleak yet soothing landscape.
In certain kinds of listeners, empty, abandoned spaces produce a pleasurable dejection. Maybe this is because spaces where human life is evacuated represent the end result of capital. (It seems to have withered away, but is in fact off to find another shell for its home.) What weโre left with is something new to inhabit, a new infrastructure for freedom. The subtle changes in Schmidtโs recording have less to do with melody and rhythm, more to do with accumulating color and texture of space. And so the half hour can feel like five minutes, or an eternityโtime and scale exist differently here.
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After years of playing drums and piano in various bands, Katharina Schmidt's solo work is influenced by indie, experimental, and improvised music. Exploring interests in storytelling, sonic topographies, and generative techniques, her music uses electronics, field recordings, and self-built interfaces alongside acoustic instruments. From sonifications to lullabies, her work is poised between formal experimentation and narratives cued by literature and pop culture, and can be heard in installations, film music, and radiophonic pieces, as well as releases on labels such as Flag Day Recordings, Slaapwel Records, and Focused Silence.
Katharina holds a masterโs degree in Sound Studies from the Berlin University of the Arts and hosts resident shows at Cashmere Radio and SVS Radio.
katharina-schmidt.net
katharinaschmidt.bandcamp.com
released August 31, 2021
artwork by Stefan Lingg
audio finalized by Glyn Maier
all proceeds to The Homeless Period Project (Greenville, SC, US) -
www.homelessperiodproject.org
THIS IS CATALOG NUMBER ENMD-03.