Akemi Ishijima

This mini-CD follows on from Akemi Ishijima's previous electroacoustic composition on Variations 2 -- A London Compilation. It includes one new piece and a reissue of "Ab Ovo," previously released on 5 Composers Second Coming on Fylkingen. The two pieces explore a broad range of traditional electronic techniques, both subtle and powerful. "Time Drops" (2000) -- a single stroke of a bell, in its decay, sometimes evokes a sense of infinity in our mind. "Time Drops" is an attempt to express such ideas as infinity, cosmic equilibrium, and moments of creation in the form of electroacoustic music.

Like rain drops making rings in water, the sound generates rings of oscillation, which create parallel universes and coexisting ones. As each sound appears and disappears, the perpetual process of creation and decline in the cosmic equilibrium is experienced in the presence and non-presence of multiple resonance. A mystery still remains around the question of how it all began. "Time Drops" creates a poetic correspondence with cosmic harmony. "Ab Ovo" (1993) -- Reflection upon two major aspects of the motion of the pendulum -- periodicity, and the effect of interfering force -- and another sound source -- an egg. The piece starts with a rather striking impact of breaking an egg. This initiates the whole journey through the imaginary sound-world circling around eternity and the inevitable point of disruption in a figure of eight. Composed at the Electroacoustic Music Studio of the University of East Anglia, England, 1993.