All music by Sft
except colour fullness by Sft + Elysian Quartet + Sawada
Sft life recordings:
Lubars, Reinickendorf, Berlin
Biwako Hall for Performing Arts, Lake Biwa
Marshall Leasing, Cambridgeshire
RPPS School London, Hammersmith
Bankside, River Thames
New National Theatre, Tokyo
Passos Manuel Old Cinema, Porto
Agua Amarga Cabo de Gato-Nijar Natural Park, Andalucia
Vocals by Misako Yabuuchi and Emma Smith
Mumbai night dogs recorded by Avjit Mukul Kishore
The rest by Sft and family
Strings recorded at Miloko Studios, Hoxton Square for the film Derek (2008) by Isaac Julien
The Elysian Quartet are Emma Smith, Vince Sipprell, Jenny Logan and Laura Moody
I would like to thank the following collaborative artists without whom nothing you hear would have been recorded:
Alison Shotz, Shiro Takatani, Cibic Jasmina, Sandro Kopp, Isaac Julien, Cynthia Beatt, Davide Quayola, Tilda Swinton
Recordings made between 2008 – 2016
Life sounds recorded with the Roland Edirol R-09 and iPhone
Edited on Mac OSX. Mac Maintenance, Karl Hall at AGT
Mastered & cut at D&M, Berlin, September 2016
Engineered by Rashad Becker
Photograph of Yuko Hirai as GIRAFFE by Sft @ NNT, Tokyo, 2016
Design, David Coppenhall
Sft thanks Factory Floor, The Charlatans, Klara Lewis, Rainier Lericolais, Olivia Louvell, The Derek Jarman Lab, Tilda Swinton and The BFI for work and play
May peace prevail on Earth
Editions Mego is proud to present the latest opus from legendary British composer, actor, sound designer and all round fine human Simon Fisher Turner. Giraffe is a new major work which blurs the lines between sound design and song, machine severity and narrative sentimentality. Subtitled ‘living in sounds and music’ Giraffe take the listener through a vast journey where an abstract clacking of unknown origin rubs up against a melancholic electronic sequence. ‘Life sounds’ were captured with a portable hard disc recorder and i-phone and appear alongside contemporar sound design. Emma Smith provides the narrative on ‘Slight Smile’ whilst electronic machines grind amongst background industrial klang in ‘Mud Larks’. 'Save As' revolves around a beautiful simple piano motif which soon folds into an unnerving field recording and drone combination.
Giraffe is a document of interior and exterior duality. A living space where machines and the surrounding world collide, a sonic landscape where musical and nonmusical elements are placed on an level hierarchy. The alchemy of these constituent parts results in the magic of Giraffe, one where the symbiotic sequence of events highlights a unique approach to sound as rapturous matter in whatever form it takes.