On Mortality, Immortality & Charles Ives

MTP15–On Mortality, Immortality & Charles Ives

Reading of the Mortality Tables manifesto accompanied by sound responses from Vince Clarke and venoztks.

1. On Mortality, Immortality & Charles Ives (Vince Clarke Version)
2. On Mortality, Immortality & Charles Ives (venoztks Version)

Reading: Mat Smith.
Recorded by Gareth Jones at The artLab, London 28 June 2022.
Sound responses: Vince Clarke & venoztks
It's a HARD master
Design: Neil Coe

Concept notes by Mat Smith:

"In life, our one true certainty is death." - Mortality Tables, On Mortality, Immortality & Charles Ives (2022)

Around March 2022, without really meaning to, I began writing what could loosely be described as a manifesto for Mortality Tables.I startedreflecting on the tragedy and inevitability of mortality, but also how our memories of those who have passed away ensure that they live on – granting them, it felt to me, a measure of immortality. To this was added reflections on the life, accomplishments and twin careers of Charles Ives, the turn-of the-century insurance actuary and composer whose musical works went mostly unperformed in his lifetime, and whose image forms the Mortality Tables logo. 'On Mortality, Immortality & Charles Ives' was finished in early June 2022. A recording of me reading the essay was made by Gareth Jones at The artLab in Shoreditch, London. The recording was then sent to Vince Clarke and venoztks, both of whom recorded sound responses to the text. Clarke's version consists of a series of interleaving drones through which a fleetingtrace of melody emerges. The version by venoztks is sparse, inchoate and unplaceable, like a transmission from a broken transistor radio from across the wastelands of existence.

Vince Clarke is an electronic musician originally from Basildon and now based in Brooklyn.

venoztks cryptically state on their website: "All is found. Everything is lost"

veryrecords.com

erasureinfo.com

field.nu/venoztks/