‘1-Bit Music’ and ‘1-Bit Symphony’ composer/artist, Tristan Perich, returns with a new circuit composition entitled ‘Noise Patterns,’ which will be out on July 22 worldwide va Physical Editions. Exclusive presales will be at Bleep.com as of June 24, but you can listen to an excerpt of ‘Noise Patterns’ via Soundcloud below right now.
A masterful tour de force of electronic sound, ‘Noise Patterns’ digs deeper into the primitive particles of digital 1-bit audio that has become Perichs signature sound. Investigating rhythm, texture and noise, ‘Noise Patterns’ will appeal to fans of the outer limits of modern electronic music, from Alva Noto and Mark Fell to Fennesz and Actress, as well as the early minimalist composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass.
As with his previous circuit albums, ‘Noise Patterns’ isn’t released as a CD or record, but instead, it comes as a matte-black circuit board with a minimalist design: only a battery, on/off switch, microchip, volume knob, fast-forward button, and headphone jack are exposed on its stark surface. Plug in and switch it on to listen to Perich’s music with sublime, physical presence. Fittingly angular, the 6-track album explores how digital noise can be shaped and stressed, from glittering static into the mesmerizing electronic thump of a nightclub.
Perich has explored 1-bit audio for many years now, noting its commonplace existence in our day to day lives, from digital alarm clocks to microwave beeps. In a repertoire of music compositions and visual art, Perich pushes the idea that for all the illusion of complexity around us, something basic and binary lies underneath it all.
When ‘1-Bit Symphony’ was released in 2010, it received accolades in the New York Times, Wired, Wall Street Journal, Pitchfork, The Wire and more. In the intervening years, Perich has explored a wide range of sound projects: his sound installation Microtonal Wall (featuring over 1,500 tiny speakers emitting a dense cloud of microtonal sound) was featured both at the Museum of Modern Art and at this years edition of Sonár Festival, while his 1-bit circuits have grappled with live instrumentation across a series of releases: piano, percussion, harpsichord and even violin ensembles, which landed in Rolling Stones Best of Avant Albums the last two years in a row.
‘Noise Patterns’ introduces a new dimension to the 1-bit sound Perich is now known for. Navigating the edges of experimental music, ambient soundscapes, industrial noise and even EDM, the album flows from white noise to crackling kicks and hypnotizing bass pulses, growing with visceral density. Ever so slowly, the album ends by disintegrating back into noise. In its conclusion, with beats moving further and further apart, it leaves the listener in a holding stasis that continues until the device is finally turned off.
These sounds are Perich’s very own, programmed by the artist and synthesized in real-time as the circuit plays. The physical format of ‘Noise Patterns’ reveals how Perich engages music at all levels, from sound all the way down to the binary instructions of the hardware. On a technical level, the sonic raw material in ‘Noise Patterns‘ is digital 1-bit noise: a probabilistic density of random oscillations that Perich sequences into rhythmic patterns and layers into textures, pulses, rumbles and beats. “I’ve kept the same structural framework that I programmed for ‘1-Bit Symphony,’” Perich said. “It’s just the lowest layer, the sound synthesis itself, that changed, from pitch to noise: order to randomness.”
Beyond the technical, ‘Noise Patterns’ vividly captures an exciting new development in Perich’s music. While indeed grounded in the electronics of sound, it ultimately also suggests a natural world completely removed from technology: one of wind, trees, ocean and tundra. It is a poetic reminder that noise is a material embedded in everything around us.
Tristan Perich performs Noise Patterns at Le 
Poisson Rouge (NY) on June 23, with Robert Henke premiering 8032_test_composition_01 (for Commodore CBM 8032), Ricardo Romaneiro performing live electronics, and Karl Larson performing Alvin Luciers Music for Piano With Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillator.
‘Noise Patterns’ is out on July 22 worldwide via Physical Editions with exclusive presales starting June 24 at Bleep.com.
For more information on ‘Noise Patterns,’ visit physicaleditions.com.
