JWPaton - Woven Static (2026)

Many of the field recordings on this album I recorded standing still with my phone or zoom capturing quiet moments. But like silence, true stillness doesn’t exist. Our perception of time creates the illusion of stillness. That perception is not rigid, it can fluctuate and bend. Everyone around us experiencing time differently.

I built the foundation of the music around this idea. Nothing in sync, many different loops varying in length. Some fairly recent recordings, others from years ago. I've used digital effects to obscure multiple layers to sound as if they are one. While also peeling back these effects to reveal details that had always been there under the surface. The past twisted into the constantly moving present.

My background in design forces me to visualise things (for better or worse) to help contextualise or further explain ideas. The heightened reality of Sam Peckinpah and John Woo films with their mixed frame rates and "slow-fast-slow" editing. The smeared and xerox works of Jack Whitten as well as the works of Central Desert artists here in AU that create moving layered histories through repetition and intricate layers. The idea of a crocodile being able to change their metabolic rate by submerging themselves in water, slowing their time perception before attacking. Consider these all visual aids to the album.