A Littler Splash
Hiroshi Yoshimura - Time After Time
Hello internet pals of music. Today’s song is an ambient piece that’s good for humans and cats alike (an experiment that has been proven).
David Hockney on his swimming pool paintings:
‘In the swimming pool pictures, I had become interested in the more general problem of painting the water, finding a way to do it. It is an interesting formal problem; it is a formal problem to represent water, to describe water, because it can be anything. It can be any colour and it has no set visual description.’1
I bring this quote up because of the cover of the album, Soundscape I: Surround, that this song opens. Depicted is the reflections of sunlight on a swimming pool, an image that perfectly suits the music on this album. Like the water of Hockney’s paintings, these sound pieces can be anything and rather than impose themselves upon the listener, act as a malleable form for the listener to imprint their own mood state upon. At any given time this piece in particular has felt to me optimistic, hopeful, wistful, blissful, and out of reach. It works in the very best ways ambient music can, as maybe blueprinted by Brian Eno’s Music For Airports: an empty vessel for the listener to fill.
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And cats really do love it, as I’ve witnessed. I’ve thought it has to do with the tonal frequencies and the pacing (because there’s no real tempo) of the sounds. I’m not sure though because I’m not an animal behavior expert, or an audiologist. I just know that putting this on has a very noticeable calming affect on a certain cat, who may or may not be the reincarnation of a Japanese man. It’s just a theory.
Have you played this for your animal friends?
SERMONS! is brought to you by Jamie Ward, a multidisciplinary artist currently in Texas. You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram. Like what you’re hearing? Help spread the word!
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Sperling, Matthew. The Pull of Hockney’s Pool Paintings. Apollo Magazine, https://www.apollo-magazine.com/david-hockney-pool-paintings/