Part and parcel of the STUMPED process is “shallow listening”: a modus operandi less weighty and austere than the oft-invoked “deep listening,” but one that doesn’t forego the appreciation for the subtle beauties of sounds usually dismissed as mundane or trivial (to be clear, “shallow” is not meant to connote the level of artistry at work here). Adam Buffington (Pennsylvania) and Page Swanson (Berlin) always keep seasoned ears out for tidbits and trimmings—out of doors, over the radio, buried in closets and corners—to mash into the alluring paste from which the duo’s recordings are ladled, the completed tapes only emerging once there is a sufficient supply to be plundered. Following up 2022’s From the Thaw, the similarly screen-printed, O-carded, and obi-stripped Shallow Buoy embraces an even more eclectic range of materials and moods throughout its four tracks, crudely assimilating snatches of everything from birdsong and wind distortion to canned speech and frankensteined surf samples. Both the reliance on analog gear and the aforementioned approach to source-reaping make these collages as earnest as they are enigmatic; “Surfin'” plays like a waterlogged love letter to the soggy coast, while the jarring shifts of “Litter on the Beach” evoke the humble majesty of a barnacled boombox still spluttering forgotten tunes as its circuits fill with brine. For a remote collaborative project, the fact that the immediacy and intent of both member’s contributions survive so fully in the finished product is a real feat; for STUMPED, the whole Atlantic might as well be a peaty puddle.
Order a copy from either Buffington or Swanson via the inquiries email listed on the Corephone Sound website.
Noise Not Music 