Guy De Bièvre

2004 release (light storage wear) ** "Guy De Bièvre, a Belgian composer and guitarist, worked in the urban environment of New York until he focused on a particular sound frequency (60 Hz), then isolated it and assembled it in the various sequences that make up this portrait of Manhattan. The various compositions go to `simulate` different auditory approaches: linear - simulation of a walk on Broadway, approximately from 123rd Street to Battery Park; circular - simulation of listening from the top of a building on 53rd Street, with a clockwise movement from north to north; lateral / stationary - simulation of static listening carried out from a bank of the East River located in Brooklyn facing the east side of Manhattan; and lateral / panoramic - simulation of listening through a slow movement from left to right carried out on a bank of the Hudson River located facing the west side of Manhattan. Each composition is naturally constructed with sounds collected in a situation identical to the one it intends to simulate. The final track, recorded from the same spot where the sounds of Circular were recorded, is intended to be a point of reference for those who, inevitably, approach listening to the CD at a distance in space and time from the place and act of its elaboration. The CD is enclosed in a large fold-out sheet, which contains a map of the city and an essay by the author on the work carried out and on the meaning of this `sound portrait` (with a section dedicated to the differences between this and a panoramic image of the same city). “Manhattan” is a fascinating work that will appeal to lovers of less impersonal sound reportage, with the city, to their ears, sounding like a large organ set in the immensity of the surrounding environment."