Drift

Mark Garry & Sean Carpio

Performance – Film - 10” record

  Drift was the long term collaborative project between Mark Garry and Sean Carpio. Starting in 2011 (CAVE, Detroit), this project has taken the form of public performances (Cork Midsummer Festival), film made with Tadhg O’Sullivan and Fergal Ward (Galleria Civica di Modena), an independent but related  series of recording released on 10” vinyl.

 The music on this record evolved from a performance in a natural amphitheatre called "Horseshoe Bay" on Sherkin Island, located off the coast of West Cork, Ireland. This one time performance took place in and around the bay. The audience arrived in two passenger ferries and moored next to a traditional Irish wooden sail boat which bore an Aeolian wind harp (A harp played by the wind. These harps are in constant flux, and are reliant upon and activated by the environment in which they are located).

On land, a brass quartet performed a series of short musical pieces based on Sumerian hymns which were controlled by a form of improvised conducting. The third and last element was an improvising saxophonist who was responding to the brass quartet and the wind harp.

For this recording, we firstly wanted to create a situation that integrated certain conceptual and sonic elements from the initial Drift performance and then process the material through a more protracted method. The recordings were made with two saxophonists, an accordionist and three Aeolian harps in a small forest in Dublin's Phoenix Park. The music was improvised in short takes with little guidance and subsequently edited by Mark and arranged by Sean.