Robert Ashley

Original 1979 LP edition of Robert Ashley's “Automatic Writing“, on Lovely Music. Following on the heels of “Private Parts”, forming some of the early building blocks for his long-standing preoccupation with language and the human voice, “Automatic Writing“ could be considered one of Ashley’s most experimental and uncompromising works. Composing under the influence of his 'involuntary speech’, here he examines language at its primitive and impulsive root.
The piece starts quietly, with scraps of Ashley's mild, tremulous voice arranged next to more fluid French translations and barely-there touches of Moog. After Ashley's phrases lengthen enough to encompass sense-making phrases, a bass-register groove briefly appears, vanishes, then returns. Few pieces so quiet have proven as captivating; many that intend to be equally startling can't capture Ashley's range of surprises. Captivating, inviting, and delicate, while tonally, structural, and conceptually rich and challenging, “Automatic Writing” is a truly visionary piece of work - Minimalist music as it has rarely been conceived of, stretching so far that it almost departs the realm of music itself.
Voices - Robert Ashley and Mimi Johnson; Electronics and Polymoog - Robert Ashley; Words: Robert Ashley. The switching circuit was designed and built by Paul DeMarinis. Recorded, produced, and mixed by Robert Ashley at the Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College (Oakland), the American Cultural Center (Paris).