LE144

Liis Ring is a musician, (sound) artist and photographer based between Gothenburg, Sweden and Tartu, Estonia. Her works are often meditations on topics like time, space, language, belonging and home.

Liis has been performing as a solo artist for about ten years, releasing four full-length albums and two EPs. Her live performances are described as gentle and improvisational mixtures of field recordings, ambient electronics, soft vocals and acoustic instruments.

Artist notes:
‘I found what I was looking for’ is more or less exactly what it says: a piece about finding something that I had been hoping to be able to find for quite some time. It is both concrete and abstract: a place and a sound as well as a feeling and state of mind.

The piece almost entirely consists of material derived from field recordings from my trip to Japan this summer. I knew from the start that I wanted those sounds to come together in one way or another afterwards, so one could say that the composition process already began from pressing record on my devices and immersing myself in the act of extensive listening back then. When going through my archive back at home bits and pieces started falling together: I improvised with and around these field recordings for a couple of takes, sampling and manipulating some of the material while leaving some unchanged. I deliberately did not want those takes to be perfect in any sense, but instead left space for the same kind of spontaneity and surprise that I would experience while encountering the original sounds in Japan.

One could say that ‘I found what I was looking for’ is a deconstruction – as well as a hyperrealistic sum-up – of one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. A manifestation of a place and feeling through sound that I can revisit at any time.

I would like to mention the following as great sources of inspiration: Higashi-Murayama; Lake Sayama; the Tamako-Kokubunji line; the Nezu museum garden; the town of Ikuno with its former silver mine and company housing; Tsuyu, the rainy season.

I often find myself thinking about the parallels of sound and photography, since my practice involves both mediums. For me, a sound is like an extended image or, the act of listening is like prolonging a fixed moment and forcing it to slow down. Like sitting down with an old album in a cosy armchair as opposed to scrolling past tons of flickering images disappearing into the vast universe of information. I think one can gain so much from being present in one experience for a longer period, no matter the medium… letting oneself become completely immersed in another universe. Traveling without actually moving. Both like a form of escapism as well as total presence. Maybe one can draw a parallel between extended and conscious these days?

liisring.bandcamp.com
www.instagram.com/liisring/