SLEEP SPINDLES
Slip [SLP013], 2015
 

"McGuire's vision is convincing and his craft accomplished"

– Liam Cagney, TEMPO: A Quarterly Review of New Music

"…churning and grinding, changing subtly but never really losing that sharp, heaving quality. The piece doesn’t so much develop (in the clunky composition class sense) as seethe…"

– Nathan Thomas, Fluid Radio (on Marshes)

"... the titular Sleep Spindles... [contains] nearly 15 minutes of metallic haptics executed with preternatural attention to micro and macro tone, rhythm and texture alchemising the the most elusive magick: a special something from next to nothing. You may be able to tell that we're a little excited by this release, and you'd be right."

– Boomkat

SLEEP SPINDLES is the debut full-length of Dublin-born, London-based composer Paul McGuire. McGuire’s fastidious pieces wrench the fizzes, crackles, and hums of acoustic instruments into towering swarms of sound. Sleep Spindles collects three of his most focussed, guttural works to date. On Tampered’, the minute squeaks of Céline Papion’s cello are gathered in solid hunks; the microtonal guitar drones of Marshes are part seduction, part dread; and titular track Sleep Spindles gleans an earthy poise from the skins of a simple percussion set-up. SLEEP SPINDLES makes the nanoscopic speak with exquisite force, and carves out a defiant zone between the luxurious washes of ambient maestros like Tim Hecker, and the more rarified noise compositions of Helmut Lachenmann.

Listen below for a taster.

1. Tampered (2014)
For solo cello. Performed by Céline Papion in her Stuttgart apartment, October 2014. Produced and mixed by Paul McGuire.

2. Marshes (2013)
For 6 electric guitars, 6 acoustic guitars and 2 acoustic bass guitars (12 performers). Performed by Open Source Guitars with Helmut Oesterreich conducting in Musikhochschule Trossingen, April 2013. Produced and mixed by Robin Bös

3. Sleep Spindles (2014)
For two percussionists. Performed, produced and mixed by Paul McGuire in his London apartment, January 2015.

Music by Paul McGuire. Mastering by Hannes Fritsch. Artwork by Dori Deng

Available on digital download/limited edition CD from Bleep, Boomkat and Bandcamp.