The Original Instrument

The original instrument is the voice. No need for technology, unless the training and straining of vocal chords is a technological affair, which it might just be. Four (instru)mentalists make up The Original Instrument, but don’t mistake this for some form of doowop or choral affair. Think instead on the possibilities of:

voices lost in halls of kaleidoscopic mirrors,
each syllable and phoneme bouncing off the warped silvered glass
‘til it’s lost in the echoes of its peers

or

four voices
~ stretched by Voltolini nasal specula ~
~ sliced by Dieffenbach operating knives ~
~ pinched by Rochester Ochsner forceps ~
(if you salivate at such names, here's your vendor)

except that nothing so outre as blood, gristle or gore is spilt in these operations – each of the eleven pieces are conducted on their own bespoke digital operating table. It’s likely that all sounds on this disc originate in the human voice, but the distance travelled from the throat is great: beneath the more recognisable words or ghosts of words big blurts, blasts and farts of sound belch forth. The effect is at times harsh, glottal, hectic and at other times it’s gentle, wistful and ridden with sighs. Coversong attains a marvellous spooked quality as it voyages inwards, Fantastic Journey-style, to hover like a wasp around vocal chords, the buzz of its wings echoing in the cavernous inner spaces of the body.

The cover bears lyrics of notable conceptual brilliance:

SSSS SO SO EXTRACTED MENTAL WEALTH SUBTRACTIVE MENTAL HEALTH
VVVV OOH AHH OOH AH MM AY MM AY MM AY MM AY NN OY
BM BAA BM BM BOAA OOOOOAAA M OOO AH UHOH UHOH
V V V IIIIIUHOH UHOH UHOH UHOH V V V IIIII V V V IIIII V V V III

If you’re a fan of Maja Ratkje’s ‘Voice’, John Cage’s later Mesostics, Orlan’s plastic surgeries or cLOUDDEAD then you'll welcome The Original Instrument into your bloody, pumping heart. Hats off to The Original Instrument, a cybernetic, genetically enhanced, nipped and tucked barbershop quartet for the new millenium.