Sam Slater - Wrong Airport Ghost (2018)

Wrong Airport Ghost explores the concept of sonic metamorphosis; it is a collaboration directly with, and only with one instrument, and its single string. In the summer of 2016, Slater found himself in Rajastahn where he worked closely with the musician Krishna Bhopa. The pair delved deep into the mechanics of the stringed instrument; they relentlessly pulled it apart to begin to understand what made it work and what caused it to break. This very idea of deconstruction became fundamental to the whole process. Just like every sound comes from one source, the concept of dismantling it in order to build another is essential. Last year in New York, Slater tirelessly demoed and mercilessly contorted a single string source; unraveling its potential and coaxing out all aural possibilities. He found with the right encouragement, soft spectral voices emerged out of overtones and amplifiers, they lurked in filtered and repitched fundamentals and peeked out from shifted formants and over compressed string breaths. The project was finally realised when Slater took his mutations to Iceland where he worked from Bedroom Community’s studio alongside producers Alfie Brooks and Bridget Ferrill. His re-imaginations eventually merged together giving birth to a new living organism; completely estranged from its original form.

The final result is a captivating record; ominous and harsh; soft and emotionally striking. It surrounds your senses with unearthly drones and alien cries, yet it all pulses with a human heart.

On ‘Wrong Airport Ghost’, Slater leads you into a magnificently surreal and unique sonic world, and somehow it feels strangely like home.