electrocd

Review

jckmd, Noise Not Music, November 20, 2018

The music on Cabinets de curiosité is just as colorful as the gorgeous artwork on the cover (painted by Shona Barr). Though each of the seven pieces explore different territory, the title of the composition that opens the disc, The Tincture of Physical Things, is a fitting unifier. MacDonald’s ‘cabinet of curiosities’ isn’t limited to just found objects; it includes any sounds that struck him as distinctive or significant, from the handmade glass instruments of Carrie Fertig used on Scintilla to the sounds of public spaces in Final Times, described by the composer as ‘cinema for the ears.’ MacDonald also pays tribute to Delia Derbyshire and early musique concrète on Psychedelian Streams, using more basic processing techniques on memorable objects from his childhood like Slinkies, wooden rulers, and wind chimes.

The music on Cabinets de curiosité is just as colorful as the gorgeous artwork on the cover