Another strong release from this gifted English electro-acoustic composer, whose discography to date shows the clarity of her ideas, each composition focused on one object or concept at a time, and seeing through the plan to completion. She’s also unafraid of telling stories, a rare thing in this genre.

On this survey of recent pieces (2018 to 2023) I somehow detect a very “modern” sound, made by a creator informed by glitch, techno, ambient and related developments in our field since around 1999 onwards. The “interruptions” of the title manifest themselves as micro-edits and dramatic timbral shifts, making each track an excitement of fizz and texture. There’s also plenty of interruptions on the opener Home Truths, which expresses her own exasperation at trying to get things done at home, without being continually distracted. It may start out as a sonic treatise on domestic objects, but the abstractions of the piece successfully delineate a restless mind and the way that her thought processes work. Microplastics doesn’t have quite the same urgency as that powerful visualisation, but it has an ecological message — it started life as a search for plastic bottles as a sound source and soon became a critique of the “colossal mountains of rubbish” we’re producing in our consumerist society.

After those two well-informed observations, Farewell Fairlight arrives as a more benign centrepiece to the album; well, she got her hands on a Fairlight machine, the sampling keyboard so beloved of Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Trevor Horn and many others, and uses it to create something wholly unexpected. She did use some of the pre-loaded sounds on the floppy disc, but created her own samples of sounds produced by some of the machine’s internal mechanisms — e.g. powering it up, the light pen touching the screen, even the sound of the fans. Events not reckoned as music or even desirable artefacts of the Fairlight. Yet from her notes, it’s clear she knows more about 1980s pop production than the entire staff of BBC Radio One, and it’s both ingenious and entertaining how she’s spliced all this knowledge and innovative sampling methods together with the strictures of formal musique concrète composition. Top marks for this layered and wonderful rainbow symphony which dazzles and brings joy in less than 13 mins.

Also here, Cupboard Love, a virtual exploration of her own mental memory as manifested in wooden cabinets full of photos and papers; and Landline, based on happy memories of an old dial phone from her family home. You can probably guess at the audio texture of this telephone piece, but it’s still a delight and far from clichéd. If there’s a pattern running through these five selections, it’s as much to do with her own personal exploration of her past, as well as devising and applying compositional methods that are entirely aligned with the objects at the centre, in a very sympathetic manner. Besides being full of creative energy, Manuella Blackburn is one of the more altruistic and accessible composers on this label.

Uno degli scopi di Percorsi Musicali è fare evidenza su compositori e musicisti la cui bravura non è proporzionata al successo che hanno ottenuto. Specialmente nella musica acusmatica l’insufficienza della relazione andrebbe molto rivista e, nel caso di Manuella Blackburn (1984), l’insufficienza non è proprio spiegabile. Nella musica acusmatica Blackburn ha un posto di rilievo: è una ricercatrice esperta pluripremiata e riconosciuta a livello internazionale, una manipolatrice intelligente di materiali sonori che più volte ha ribadito l’importanza di un vocabolario specifico per descrivere gli eventi sonori, le strutture utilizzate e l’evoluzione degli spazi (un codice che viene dalle lezioni spettro-morfologiche di Denis Smalley); è intervenuta su metodi e strategie per creare musica elettroacustica, è oggi conosciutissima negli ambienti acusmatici per il suo metodo pedagogico Visual Sound-Shapes e la sua sperimentazione si fonda su alcune caratteristiche che più volte sono state acclarate in documenti, saggi e conferenze: da una parte Blackburn ha lavorato alacremente sulla gestione dei file audio cercando di imporre un quadro di nozioni sul principio di ‘brevità’ delle combinazioni sonore, dall’altra si è preoccupata di trovare soluzioni per una creatività interculturale, attraverso una sorta di ‘prestito’ basato su materiali originali, condotti anche in paesi stranieri, rielaborati secondo un’appropriazione personale di significati che vanno oltre le astratte propensioni delle strutture della musica cosiddetta ‘invisibile’. […]

Interruptions — an evocative title for Manuella Blackburn’s third solo album — feels less like a pause and more like a careful rewiring of the everyday. In this collection of five acousmatic works, Blackburn transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary, turning familiar sounds into vibrant sonic sculptures that demand your full attention, even as they playfully tug at your imagination.

Blackburn, a British electroacoustic composer and a master of the acousmatic craft, has carved out a niche as a meticulous soundsmith. Her work is a masterclass in detail — an intricate mosaic of small sounds delicately clustered into polished, fantastical worlds. With Interruptions, she invites us into these worlds, each track a doorway into an alternative reality where home appliances hum with existential depth and microplastics might as well be stars in an alien cosmos.

The album opens with Home Truths, a contemplative yet playful piece that feels like eavesdropping on a domestic space that’s come alive. Everyday sounds — doors creaking, water dripping — unfold into something uncanny, as if the house itself were whispering secrets about the people who inhabit it.

Microplastics dives headlong into Blackburn’s knack for turning ecological concerns into sonic poetry. The sharp, glassy textures evoke a shimmering sea polluted with invisible invaders — beautiful, yes, but with an unsettling undertow. It’s an aural reminder of humanity’s footprint, refracted through Blackburn’s lens of meticulous transformation.

Farewell Fairlight serves as the album’s nostalgic centerpiece. A twelve-minute love letter to the iconic Fairlight CMI synthesizer, it juxtaposes vintage tones with Blackburn’s modern acousmatic toolkit. It’s not so much a goodbye as a reimagining, where yesterday’s technology becomes tomorrow’s inspiration.

Cupboard Love is perhaps the album’s wittiest offering — a cheeky exploration of culinary chaos that turns the clatter of pots, pans, and kitchen drawers into a percussive symphony. Blackburn’s playful touch is on full display here, proving that even the mundane can become delightful in the hands of a master composer.

The final track, Landline, closes the album on a hauntingly nostalgic note. The sound of a ringing telephone — a relic in our age of smartphones — echoes through a richly textured soundscape, a ghostly reminder of connections lost and found.

Interruptions isn’t just an album; it’s an invitation to listen differently. Blackburn’s ability to transform the banal into the beguiling is a testament to her skill and vision. These works aren’t merely interruptions in the flow of everyday life — they’re celebrations of the strange beauty hidden within it.

With Interruptions, Manuella Blackburn once again proves why she’s one of the most compelling voices in acousmatic music. It’s an album that challenges, charms, and delights in equal measure — a perfect companion for anyone willing to trade the ordinary for the extraordinary, even for just a moment.

Manuella Blackburn, halb so alt wie Elsa Justel und aus London, nennt mit Interruptions das Merkmal, das gleich mal Home Truths bestimmt: Unterbrechungen bis hin zur Zerrüttung des Tagesablaufs. Dass sich stressige Diskontinuität ebenso ästhetisch nutzen lässt wie Plastikmüll, aus dem Microplastics knistrig und mikrorhythmisch verklanglicht ist, wen soll das beruhigen oder trösten? Die Atomisierung des Lebens und die verheerende Vermüllung der Welt gehen weiter. Was tun? Kunst ist keine Müllabfuhr, Klangrecycling beseitigt keine Abfälle. Also nostalgisch Seufzen, mit Farewell Fairlight als Hommage an die Fairlight CMI Series II, die Popmusik der 80^er und eine Sound Library aus Klangkürzeln? Wie unterscheidet sich Sensibilisieren von Gewöhnen und Abstumpfen? Knarziges Öffnen und Schließen (von Schubladen, Türen) spielen auch bei Cupboard Love eine Hauptrolle als interruptives Gestaltungsmittel. Vergangenheit und Erinnerungen — inklusive der an Pierre Henry s Variationen für eine Tür und einen Seufzer — unterbrechen die Gegenwart. Mit Landline wiederentdeckt Blackburn ihr Festnetztelephon als Marker nostalgischer Erinnerungen, die sie mit klangarchäologischem Pinsel freilegt. Aus dem Klingklang der Dial Tones, den sie in pulsende Wellen eingebettet, kreiert sie ein Es-war-einmal ohne Worte, das mit der Frage einhergehen könnte, warum so wenig bleibt wie es ist.

Deze maand kwamen er weer twee nieuwe albums uit bij Empreites DIGITALes. De Engelse componiste Manuella Blackburn bracht een vijftal opvallend gevarieerde, vrij recente stukken bij elkaar op Interruptions, dicht blijvend bij het aloude musique concrète en de Argentijnse Elsa Justel, die verder studeerde in Frankrijk en Spanje, bracht een Cd uit, L’ombre du pont, met een aantal vrij korte stukken, ontstaan tussen 1999 en 2021 en zo dus ook een mooi overzicht biedend van haar œuvre. Beide componisten kozen voor acousmatische composities.

Over het eerste stuk Home Truths zegt Blackburn: “Interruptions dominate this composition, acting as pauses, abruptstops, moments cut short and held breaths. These moments represent the many interruptions experienced in my daily life, in work, activities and composing. Interruptions are temporal states where continuity is ceased but then resumed or returned to after the interrupting event is over”. Gezien de titel van dit album en na beluisteren van de overige stukken, zou ik willen stellen dat deze opmerking eigenlijk geldt voor alle vijf de stukken. We horen eenzelfde wijze van werken dus ook in Microplastics, dat volledig is opgebouwd uit geluiden die zijn gemaakt met plastic producten en waarmee Blackburn ons ook bewust wil maken van het afvalprobleem als het om plastic gaat. Voor Farewell Fairlight gebruikte Blackburn geluiden van de Fairlight CMI, een vroege digitale synthesizer van half jaren ’70. Het is even zoeken, maar wie goed luistert hoort klanken die we ook kennen van de popmuziek uit die jaren. Zeer origineel vind ik Cupboard Love. Het stuk “explores the memories found in cupboards, drawers and cabinets. Scraps of paper, photographs and mementos come to life through sonic snapshots of earlier times. Opening and closing cupboards offers an inviting gesture to enter new sonic worlds”.

De opener van L’ombre du pont is getiteld Déjà vu. Justel schreef het tijdens Covid-19: “I decided to have some fun and use various objects to play around with old clichés, especially the classic rebound effect.” Met Ce monde et ailleurs laat Justel haar maatschappelijk bewustzijn spreken door stil te staan bij niet minder dan de geschiedenis van de mensheid: “I attempted to illustrate the sonic diversity and density we live in with, for good measure, a few referential notes (call it sarcastichumour) thrown in and a blank moment to picture an uncertain future”. Dat levert een spannend klankcollage op, met stemopnames, ruis en een grote diversiteit aan onverwachte geluiden. Soms lenen deze componisten ook van elkaar, zo gebruikte Justel voor Casi nada geluiden van Luc Ferrari. De gebruikte geluiden bij dit soort componisten wekken soms ronduit verbazing of toveren een glimlach tevoorschijn. Ik had dat bijvoorbeeld sterk bij het beluisteren van Haricots et petits bâtons. Ook in Wessen leent Justel geluiden, nu van haar vakgenote Beatriz Ferreyra, ook hier levert het weer een wonderlijk klankcollage op. Justel brengt meer hommages aan belangrijke componisten in dit genre. L’expérience caustique, uit 2012, droeg ze op aan François Bayle, C’est lui, uit 2006, aan Francis Dhomont en P-corde, van een jaar later, aan Bernard Parmegiani. Over dat laatste stuk zegt ze: “I wanted, with this piece, to pay tribute to a composer who managed to weave an incredibly subtle sonic fabric at a time when no one could imagine that the computer would one day become a musical instrument”. Mooi hoe ze hier het pizzicato geluid van een viool op allerlei manieren hergebruikt. Iets soortgelijks doet Justel in Diálogo con Ana, maar nu met de piano, we horen zowel de toetsen als de snaren.

Auf empreintes DIGITALes erscheint in Kürze ein neues Album der akusmatischen Komponistin und Sounddesignerin Manuella Blackburn, das ausschließlich preisgekrönte Arbeiten der vergangenen Jahre enthält. Manuella Blackburn ist eine Komponistin elektroakustischer Musik mit Spezialisierung auf Akusmatik. Sie studierte Musik an der Universität Manchester und promovierte 2010 bei Ricardo Climent in elektroakustischer Komposition.

Blackburns Werke zeichnen sich durch detaillierte Klanggestaltung und die kunstvolle Anordnung kleiner Klänge in klar strukturierten Szenarien aus. Sie verarbeitet Tonaufnahmen alltäglicher Objekte, Umgebungen und Instrumente und verwandelt, wie es beim Label heißt, Gewöhnliches in Fantastisches. Ihre Musik wurde international bei Konzerten, Festivals, Konferenzen und Ausstellungen aufgeführt. Für ihre akusmatischen Werke erhielt sie zahlreiche internationale Auszeichnungen. Derzeit lebt sie in England und ist Reader für Elektronische Musik und Sounddesign an der Keele University.