Suborno
The Instrument
RMLP001
The Music:
In May 2011, Asheq Akhtar began recording ‘The Instrument’ using theatrical
improvisational techniques learnt from his appearance in Turner Prize winner
Gillian Wearing’s debut feature film, ‘Self Made’. Three tracks in and
Akhtar went to India to spend time in Karnasubarna: the village his family
originally hail from. Using the history of partition, civil war and
migration, Suborno was born. ‘The Instrument’ is not a reference to the
guitar, rather the term is used with regard to the body, and how an actor
utilises action in the context of improvisation.
The track listing is the very order the songs were recorded in - interrupted
by Akhtar's trip to India (the reflective Flights being the first recorded
on his return). Each track was recorded in Akhtar’s living room - so the
sounds of sirens around the estate, aeroplanes passing overhead, a cat, and
the creaking chair are all included as part of the environment – the moment.
Alongside these noises, ‘The Instrument’ is comprised of two acoustic
guitars bought from second-hand stores, some household items and an Ektara
bought in Kolkata (the national instrument of Bangladesh as used on ‘The
star with only one string’). Vocal samples recorded in Murshidabad,
Karnasubarna top and tail the spiralling, train-like journey of ‘DRRMBSL’.
It is ultimately family that is at the very heart of ‘The Instrument’ and
Akhtar’s daughter was born soon after the final mix of ‘Division /
Separation’ was sent for mastering.
The journey continues.
The Release:
This release is available in limited edition 200 x LP and download. A
download code issued along with the LP.
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Reviews:
"A quietly cinematic record, filled with understated peaks and fertile silences, its compositions appearing either beautifully delicate and atmospheric, hypnotic and minimal or fragmented and hectic, caught between experimental folk and urban blues." The Milk Factory.
