Eoin Lyness – Queen City Sounds and Art

EoinLyness_MutilationOfArt1_sm — Eoin Lyness, photo courtesy the artist

Combining filed recordings at the National Gallery in London with layers of processed synth, “Mutilation of Art” gives voice to composer Eoin Lyness’ sense of anxiety in crowded public spaces. A nearly abstract background arpeggio conveys a sense of movement in the distance with a distorted synth echoing in the foreground, all seeming to weave together with the samples of nearby human movement and conversation. The weight of that stimulation all but ruining the experience of taking in art that was created largely in isolation and best experienced without the surrounding rush of interruptions. It serves as a model for abstract expressionism and minimalism itself with what seems to be constant repetition of themes with enough evolving layers to provide stimulation, in this case of the kind that suggests the low level of menace that stimulates feelings of anxiety. Which should make for uncomfortable listening yet somehow in truly capturing how one’s mind tries to push away the presence of crowds emotionally it creates a space within which one can escape the worst of those feelings by dissolving and reflecting back some of that energy through what might be described as an ambient catharsis. The way Giorgio Moroder did the same with “Chase” from the soundtrack to Midnight Express or Oneohtrix Point Never accomplished with his soundtrack to Good Time, Eoin Lyness takes an intense emotional experience and renders it in a form more accessible to the conscious mind with an intentionality of soundscaping that draws upon subconscious reactions. Listen to “Mutilation of Art” on Soundcloud and connect with Lyness at the links provided.