Lieven Martens - Insular Monographs (2020)

Two albums, slightly touched...

'Ke Ala Ke Kua'

A flashback to july 2010, when I created this afterimage in the timespan of more or less one week. An afterimage of paying a visit to Joan Ocean’s hotspot, the Kealakekua Bay, and to islands of Hawai’i and Oahu. Miss Ocean wrote a few books about her hanging and having conversations with dolphins at Kealakekua, thus i couldn’t resist going over there and seeing what it’s all about.

'Canto Arquipélago'

Recorded under a volcano on a portable fourtrack during a few days in november 2011. In our then temporary island home on Pico island (Açores) between the avocado trees, the bush and the cliffs - where we lived for half a year. Storms, humidity, ocean, warmth, sunrays, lava, bush, green, blue, ourselves, fishermen, villages, village cafés, cetaceans, livestock, et al ... are translated to magnetic tape and computer. Canto was meant as an historical correction - or lesser pedantic, an addendum for the many idyllic insular albums out there. It was also the closing full album of the Dolphins Into The Future era

The music

All music is presented in its original audio quality. Needless to add it suffers from lofi sound quality and is basically monophonic. I decided to keep it this way and to handle the songs as historical remnants. Fully realizing a 10 year timespan isn’t necessarily that historical… On two occasions i couldn’t resist and “corrected” small parts to make the music conceptually just. Rest assured I did leave many flaws and little mistakes untouched; since the beauty of a truth is shining through its flaws.