M. Sage “A Singular Continent”
07 Mar 2014 — Noah Klein
“Writing has nothing to do with meaning. It has to do with land surveying and cartography, including the mapping of countries yet to come.”
Approaching M. Sage’s tapestry of field recordings, gentle electronics, and affected instrumentation is to unravel a poetics of space. Regardless of the intent behind dissecting the letter, syllable, or phrase, the words will bloom and become new formations.
M. Sage’s latest, A Singular Continent, is just that, “singular”. Outside of Matthew’s own archive from his former RxRy universe I cannot say that I have ever approached an album so dense, so total, so heart-achingly flawless in its multidisciplinary execution. Less a purely aural experience than a cartography of interaction subject to emotionally driven plate shifts and territories whose environments fluctuate in rhythm, each track within A Singular Continent expounds upon a happening from the smallest of observations to the feelings trapped within memories of existence. A genuine practice in the prophetic potential of what music can achieve as an art form, exercising breath beyond relatively futile politics and projecting the foundation for an alternative reality where all directions are plausible.
In addition to the 12” release, A Singular Continent encompasses a collaboration of collage, by Nathaniel Whitcomb, and a collaboration of prose, by Grant Souders. As well as creating wondrous worlds of sonic exploration Matthew is also the curatorial and organizational force behind Patient Sounds, a music label and small press headquartered out of Matthew’s home. Purchase A Singular Continent here, and while you wait for the USPS to knock on your door make sure to visit the stunning imaginary webscape for the collection ~ I’ve certainly spent more time there in the last two weeks than I care to share.