9+1 Q&A with Blanket Swimming

What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

I am a sound artist, multi-instrumentalist, performer, and recording engineer from Jackson, Mississippi, working primarily in the realms of drone, ambient, musique concrète, and electroacoustic music. I create recordings that can provoke emotion, while at the same time offering a pallet of sound that can be used to practice the rewarding act of deep listening. I look to challenge the listeners’ focus and perception of sound. Much of my work explores the textural nature of sound within a framework of progressing and evolving compositions. I am interested in the interaction among texture, sound, and space.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

“Perpetual Seeds For Fleeting Time” was a record I started making during the Spring of 2019 and completed Fall ’19. Each of the six tracks were recorded using a unique method of composition. I think this record truly embodies the spirit and essence of Blanket Swimming. Like, if someone were to ask me “what does Blanket Swimming sound like,” I would play them this album. I am constantly exploring new areas and realms of sound, and my sound is always evolving from album to album. Yet, at the center of my work there is a certain essence that is hard to describe. You can’t really describe it in words. This album taps into that on a very deep level.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

Music-wise: Francisco López, Pinkcourtesyphone/Richard Chartier, Stephan Mathieu, Earth, William Basinski, Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra, Stars of the Lid, Mount Eerie, and so many more.

Non-music-wise: Thich Naht Hanh, life, nature

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

Dense layers of swirling sound that unfold as they tell a story or present a scene. Contemplative sonic textures evolving through archways of/in the natural world. The expounding of heavy emotion through a fluid stream of expressionistic soundwaves.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

This is a toughie.. This list will probably be different tomorrow…

Albums: Godspeed You! Blank Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven. Stars Of The Lid – The Ballasted Orchestra. For my third pick I would like access to longplayer.org, so I can have something ever-changing and never-ending to listen as I live out my days on the island.

Movies: Waking Life, Mulholland Drive, Peter Liechti – Voice Crack

Books: All of Frank Herbert’s Dune books, Philip K. Dick – Flow My Tears The Policeman Said, Ursula K. Le Guin – The Dispossessed

Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

Both for different reasons. Studio for the infinite possibilities of multitrack recording and the opportunity to use the studio as an instrument. Live for getting to re-work, re-contextualize, and re-collage my compositions and for getting to openly share my art directly with others.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

I played a show recently with three other ambient / experimental artists from Jackson. We were hoping to do a live video-projection thing behind us while we play as the venue was set up for such. When we got there, the guy who runs the venue asks us each for our “official logos” to project behind us while we play. I thought this was quite funny for an ambient/noise show.

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

Earlier last year, Macedonian-based label Post-Global Recordings released my album titled “INTR,” on which I took a very different approach to composition. There is an equal focus on lengthy stretches of manipulated field recordings as there is on instrumental guitar/synthesizer based sections. I think the track DLNI stands out as one of my most unique tracks. It begins with this long stretch of a wavering, swelling fluid sound-bed, played in the same key as the Earth’s rotation. It takes a left turn during the last six minutes of the piece, as the sound evolves into a noisey roller-coaster ride of a shifting field recording collage.

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

Sure thing. Perpetual Seeds For Fleeting Time was out November 29^th on Somewherecold Records. I have a split with fellow Mississippi noisician, Division of Labor, set to release in the Spring. Aside from Blanket Swimming, I also release sound-compositions centered around field recordings under my own name, Nicholas Maloney. I have several releases lined up for later this year and next year with that project. Sombuse – Cassette tape coming out on Invisible City Records in December I believe. Forms Within Spaces – 5CD box set coming out on Psoma Psi Phi. Lignum Musique – Cassette tape coming out on Enmossed around May. I will also be performing/debuting a new 2ish-hour long composition built entirely out of field recordings at Crosstown Arts in Memphis as a part of their “A Change of Tone” series on April 18^th. I will be performing in an entirely separate room from the audience, giving them only the sound to focus their attention on. I will also be moving to Cork, Ireland in the Fall of next year to pursue a master’s degree in experimental sound practice.

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

Will you ever stop making albums?

No. The world is infinite, and so is sound, art, and expression.

Photo credits: Jon Michael Platt

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

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