A Note From Alexandra

I have a near-spiritual obsession with the animation of material and object through sound. “A necessary softness” is my attempt to hold onto and translate through sound this fascination with material, object and place.

I like to imagine sound as a transient thread – unravelling and connecting our isolated homes, our objects, our bodies – degrading, changing form and leaving traces along the way. “A necessary softness” presents the shifting soundscapes of real and imagined places; tactile objects amplified to merge with sounds made by resonant bodies and digital processing, slowly unravelling into ambient landscape.

‘tidewater’ and ‘bell, fern’ both began and were inspired by places in which I resided for a long (Vancouver) or a short time (Hong Kong). And both developed through performances presented over the past few years, beginning with a solo set at Destroy Vancouver in April 2016, intertwining in a performance at 20α in Hong Kong, June 2019, and solidifying with the launch of an album at the Petersham Bowlo in Sydney, August 2019.

“A necessary softness” is built of materials repeating and retelling, two performances-come compositions with a shared synergy. In a way, ‘bell, fern’ was birthed from ‘tidewater’, exploring its own narrative whilst sharing in ‘tidewater’’s structure. They exist in a kind of parallel/binary form and my intention is that the cassette may be played in either direction. While, the digital fragmentation of the tracks allows for a more modular approach – chapters of a story to be entered into at any point.

A necessary softness, over and over, in homage to material and place.

released April 16, 2021

來自Alexandra的筆記

我有一種近乎靈性上的執迷，對於以聲音作為物質與物件的動態描蒙。《A Necessary Softness》是我實現這種執迷的嘗試，以聲音翻譯我對物質、物件與地方的感興。

我喜歡將聲音想像成一縷轉瞬即逝的幼線，連結同時梳解了我們孤居的家，我們的物件，我們的身體——它沿途分解，改變形態，留下細碎的線索。《A Necessary Softness》呈現了交替於真實與想像兩者間的聲境。將富有觸感的物件，加以擴音，與共鳴體及以數位處理的聲音融為一體，慢慢展現環境地貌。〈tidewater〉和〈bell, fern〉都是始於、受啟發於我曾經駐留的一段長時間（溫哥華）或短時間（香港）的地方。兩首隨著近幾年的演出，而一直發展，最初是2016年於Destroy Vancouver的獨奏演出，其後到2019年6月於香港20α的演出，最後在2019年8月於悉尼Petersham Bowlo的唱片發行會中成形。

《A Necessary Softness》建立於一再重覆，一再敘述的材料之上。兩段因演出而成的作品，擁有同步的編曲。某程度上，〈bell, fern〉自〈tidewater〉中誕生，既探索其獨有的敘事，亦與〈tidewater〉共享同樣的結構。兩曲目以某種平行／二段體曲式存在，而我構想這卡式帶是可隨意以前進或後進方向播放。同時，這些數碼化的音軌段落，可以容許更多「組合式」的想像——尤如一個故事，可以循任何一個章節進入。

一種必要的溫柔，一次又一次，向物質與地方致敬。

2021年4月16日發行