Spencer Graham’s deep interest in music and the everyday, or what the writer Georges Perec called the infra-ordinary, has led him to work with records, CDs, cassettes and MP3s as his primary media for the last ten years. Specific collections of recorded music, acquired according to self-set constraints are made available for audiences in the form of installations with playback devices and as online audio mixes.
For Xylophobia: Online, Spencer has produced three audio mixes, working with the self-set constraint of specific track titles, beginning with “Xylophobia”.
What might tracks with this title sound like? Would they suitably evoke a fear of forests and/or wooden objects? Would they feature xylophones? Would they share anything in common? How might they differ? How might they sit alongside one another in an audio mix? What is the lived experience of collecting this assemblage of tracks?
Xylophobia Tracklist
Auraglass – Xylophobia
-tribute. – Xylophobia
Benji.Musick – Xylophobia
Das Zimmer – Xylophobia
n.re – Xylophobia
synth daddy – Xylophobia
A.FERN – Xylophobia
A. Gunn – Xylophobia
The Regimental Band of the 1st Battalion – Xylophobia
Steven Patton – Xylophobia
Steve Shapiro – Xylophobia
Icicle – Xylophobia
-Drewtopia- – Xylophobia
Opak – Xylophobia
Snapped Ankles – Xylophobia
Spencer also considered the negative denotation of the suffix “phobia”, how he might counter it, wondering if there might be tracks out there with a more positive take on forests. Spencer’s second audio mix features a collection of tracks all titled “Shinrin-yoku”, the name of the Japanese practice of forest bathing.
What might tracks with this title sound like? Would they suitably evoke a love of forests? Would they feature xylophones? Would they share anything in common? How might they differ? How might they sit alongside one another in an audio mix? What is the lived experience of collecting this assemblage of tracks?
Shinrin-yoku Tracklist
Andrea Laudante – Shinrin yoku
Shinji Watanabe – Shinrin-yoku
Motion Sickness of Time Travel – Shinrin-yoku
Slumber Mill – Shinrin-yoku
Heraclitus Akimbo – Shinrin-yoku
Mark Barrott – Shinrin-Yoku (森林浴)
Elektroklew – Shinrinyoku
Oszillon – Shinrin-yoku
brien hindman – shinrin yoku
Robert Scott Thompson – Shinrin-yoku
Raluca Apetria – Shinrin-yoku
Yantra Mandir – Shinrin-yoku
NÉ-K Trio – Shinrin-Yoku
ILLASOUL – Shinrin-yoku
Xylophobia/Shinrin-Yoku Tracklist
Auraglass – Xylophobia
Slumber Mill – Shinrin-yoku
Spencer Graham – Fermyn Woods Country Park 09/06/2023 ZOOM0010
Shinji Watanabe – Shinrin-yoku
Spencer Graham – Fermyn Woods Country Park 09/06/2023 ZOOM0006
Opak – Xylophobia
Robert Scott Thompson – Shinrin-yoku
Steven Patton – Xylophobia
Heraclitus Akimbo – Shinrin-yoku
A. Gunn – Xylophobia
Motion Sickness of Time Travel – Shinrin-yoku
Icicle – Xylophobia
NÉ-K Trio – Shinrin-Yoku
n.re – Xylophobia
Andrea Laudante – Shinrin yoku
Das Zimmer – Xylophobia
Elektroklew – Shinrinyoku
Snapped Ankles – Xylophobia
brien hindman – shinrin yoku
Raluca Apetria – Shinrin-yoku
Auraglass – Xylophobia
For the final mix, titled Xylophobia/Shinrin-yoku, Spencer chopped, looped and layered tracks from each of the first two mixes, initially in a bid to investigate the contrasting sounds of opposing track titles but as he worked with the selections, he soon discovered it became as much about what they have in common. This mix also includes Spencer’s field recordings of Fermyn Woods Country Park and premiered on the Radio Public show on Resonance FM on Wednesday 25/10/2023.
Spencer Graham is an artist based in Northamptonshire, UK. His practice revolves around a deep interest in music, and questions ideas relating to materiality and place. Utilising and sharing very specific collections of music, acquired according to self-set constraints, he considers how we access, consume, use, and most importantly, listen to music. Previous work has included collecting photographs of people with their original (1983) pressings of New Order’s 12″ single “Blue Monday” and an ongoing exploration of how the “techno city” of Detroit is represented in flyers, posters, music journalism, record sleeves and CD inserts.
Back to Xylophobia: Online.