Slowdive's Simon Scott swallows us whole with the majestic 'Insomni', his debut for Ash International. As the album title implies, this album deals with sleep, or a lack of it, and most particularly the liminal spaces between light/dark, waking/dreams, and natural/noumenal realms."Couldn't sleep... arose to forage for sound. The hum of the fridge encouraged further investigation of hidden, domestic sounds; the fish tank, DVD player, a broken laptop... Dawn and morning light allowed more sound and the guitar, in its case, beckoned... From darkness to light..." Guitars: Guild 12-string D-125 and Vintage Guild six-string GF-25. Mics: induction coil pick up and hydrophones. Buddha Machine pre-recorded and mixed, then re-recorded at Holme Fen Posts using mobile speakers. Recording device: Edirol r-09. Radio: static between stations. Software: Max MSP (self-programmed), Supercollider, and Logic Pro. Simon Scott (b. 1971) is a British multi-instrumentalist based in Cambridge, UK. Insomni is his fourth album and his debut for Ash International and is published by Touch. His music is a fusion of digital signal manipulation combined with an aesthetic of compositional collaboration with environmental sounds and organic acoustic textures. He is inspired by his interests in sound ecology, music technology, the natural world, illustration, photography, composition, and sonic art. Below Sea Level, originally presented live in quadraphonic sound, was released on Touchline in March 2015, after 12k originally released the album in 2012. It explores the aesthetics of active listening, sound ecology, and the subjective distinction of compositional materials and sound timbres. Critically applauded for creating juxtapositions of analog and digital timbres, the man-made and natural-world sounds captured in his local sunken landscape of The Fens in East Anglia create a fusion of digital signal manipulation combined with organic acoustic textures. Since the late 1990s Scott's solo work has been featured in a variety of international films, sonic art exhibitions, dance productions, television productions, and digital multi-media projects. He has toured worldwide since 1988 and he is the drummer for UK band Slowdive, who worked with Brian Eno on 1993 Souvlaki album. His track "Für Betty" was included on the German label Kompakt's Pop Ambient 2014 compilation (KOMP 113CD). Scott is also a freelance composer and sound recordist for film and television; in 2015, he appeared on the BBC program Springwatch Unsprung recording aquatic wildlife and discussing his work with presenter Chris Packham. He has taught music technology and sound recording in Cambridgeshire and lectured at Cambridge University. In 2008 he established the Kesh Recordings label, releasing global artists' audio and visual projects. He has also collaborated on various projects with Taylor Deupree, Nils Frahm, Machinefabriek, The Sight Below, Isan, and James Blackshaw.
