Tonotopy, by Elizabeth Cottern

Tonotopy

by Elizabeth Cottern

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ES Another layer of steel-sharp frequencies rising up through dust-choked floors of low bass drones excavated by OFOCL.
Sonic substances coalescing into risen lifeforms that move amongst the dreaming, flow out from the mirrors of the mind. Favorite track: Akoasm XII.

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Tonotopy, The Metallic Ratio, Imperial Valley, II, The Universal, Imperial Valley, Vardyger, In Abeyance the Devouring Flame, Fundamental Colours II, and 6 more. , and , .

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	1.	Akoasm XI 04:01
	2.	Akoasm XII 03:34
	3.	Akoasm XIII 02:04
	4.	Akoasm XIV 05:05
	5.	Akoasm XV 02:51
	6.	Akoasm XVI 03:58
	7.	Akoasm XVII 05:05
	8.	Akoasm XVIII 04:00
	9.	Akoasm XIX 09:06

about

Elizabeth Cottern’s 2017 debut, ‘Heschl’s Gyrus’, represented something of an outlier for Other Forms in terms of its embrace of noise and dissonance. Will the artist's return in 2023 extends the label’s gamut into even further unfamiliar territory? Over the intervening half-decade, Cottern has been seemingly quiet, although there are rumours of self-released cassettes, as well as releases under pseudonyms on other labels.

The titles of the recordings would seem to bear this out, as ‘Heschl’s Gyrus’ ended with ‘Akoasm III’, whereas ‘Tonotopy’ begins with ‘Akoasm XI’. The sound, too, speaks to a progression, a stripping away of their previous maximalist tendencies to reveal a stark palette of reverberant oscillator pulses, howling feedback and occasional rhythmic washes of white noise.

Apparently recorded live and only later split into nine sections, ‘Tonotopy’ documents Cottern subjecting their source material to an extremely volatile feedback chain, which spews out anything from piercing sinewave volleys to rumbling, overdriven bass squalls. Notwithstanding the precariousness of such a setup, Cottern demonstrates a mastery of their instruments, sculpting the feedback with a sense of nuance, as well as drama. The result feels both scouring and, perversely, incredibly meditative.

credits

released March 2, 2023

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Other Forms Of Consecrated Life

Auditory excavations. Eremitic music. Pareidolia.

Somewhere in Pictland.

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