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"Myth of Equilibrium" New full-length album from C. Lavender On Editions Mego Release Date: May 15, 2020 Recorded in the geodesic dome at Outlier Inn Studios in the Western Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York. Headphone listening recommended. Editions Mego Link Bandcamp Link Forced Exposure Link |
C. Lavender’s third full-length album explores meditative physical rituals of sound with binaural recordings from inside a geodesic dome in the Catskill Mountains of New York.
“The future is a choice between utopia and oblivion,” noted architect, futurist and geodesic dome theorist Buckminster Fuller. Myth of Equilibrium delves into these divergent paths by featuring equal parts of pastoral raw acoustic percussion combined with C. Lavender’s signature “devastating caustic drones” (Ad Hoc) via her custom bass guitar and synthesizers.
An assistant to the late pioneering electronic composer and Deep Listening founder Pauline Oliveros, C. Lavender’s astute editing and the binaural recording process places the listener within the heady fluctuating underworld she has created on this album. The recording environment of the geodesic dome allowed for sounds to transfer out beyond the confines of the walls as well as allowing outside sounds from the surrounding wilderness to permeate in like that of a mutating cell.
The album suggests “headphone listening” for the full hypnotic experience Myth of Equilibrium presents to the listener.
C. Lavender is a 2020 Pioneer Works (New York) Music Artist-in-Residence and Harvestworks Technology Immersion Program Scholar.
Previous recordings include “Fortitude in Wintarmanoth” (Ecstatic Peace!), “Peaceful Protest” compilation (RVNG Intl), and “Vanishing Light” (Hot Releases).
Catalog: EMEGO 281
Mastering: Taylor Deupree at 12k Mastering
Photography: C. Lavender
Layout: Richard Chartier
Press for "Myth of Equilibrium"
"...an album that sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard. Myth of Equilibrium transcends simple ideas of noise or new age, creating a form of “healing music” that feels more honest and invigorating on every level." - Bandcamp
"Lavender expands her pieces so quickly that space itself seems warped. Each track becomes its own universe, sometimes in miniature, sometimes—like during the seven-minute, dramatically morphing “Remedy Potion Extraction”—in massive vistas. Lavender practices healing sound baths, and Myth of Equilibrium definitely has curative sonic power, but nothing here mollifies or coddles. It’s confrontational music that could change you whether or not you want it to." -Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp
"Lavender here opts for a suite of shorter vignettes. It’s a deft choice, allowing the pieces their own personality as opposed to using the heavily reverberant space to craft endless oceans of sound. It also eschews the documentary feel of a straight recording through adroit editing and layering of timbres highlighting the interaction between electronics and the environment of the dome. The album suggests headphone listening, a wise recommendation given its depth of field and suave stereo maneuvering. The record ("Myth of Equilibrium") skillfully avoids potential new age cliches and manages to act as an invitation to engage with it deeply, no matter one’s spiritual ethos. The lesson is a useful one and it can’t be repeated enough: shut up, slow down and listen. " - Wire
"C. Lavender’s Myth of Equilibrium, in addition to featuring a perfect title for the current time, pulls some amazing aural landscapes from recordings within a geodesic dome. At times reminiscent of Lustmord’s subsonic space exploration and Ben Frost’s overdriven ambience, Myths also carries the spacious thrill you might have from listening to a bootleg concert recording of Suicide or Throbbing Gristle from the late 70s. " - CDM
"So one morning I committed to listening to Myth... I sat against the wall, hit play, and closed my eyes. As my mind slowly relaxed and the anxiety of stillness faded, my skin began to tingle. As layers of sound intensified I felt like I was gently falling, the way you sometimes do in a dream. My nose itched, my eyes watered. At the end I felt emptied out and emotionally raw, but also rested, a little more human, more connected to the rest of the world." - Women in Sound
"Her track, “Dimly Lit Exit,” features a continuous, textural drone, blaring and oscillating in and around your head like a swarm of millions of bees. Only they are non-threatening, but rather, they are protective and their presence is wholly mesmerizing and calming. Brief squawks and caws cycle through like the sonar call of submarine, so weightless it all feels." - Ears to Feed
“The future is a choice between utopia and oblivion,” noted architect, futurist and geodesic dome theorist Buckminster Fuller. Myth of Equilibrium delves into these divergent paths by featuring equal parts of pastoral raw acoustic percussion combined with C. Lavender’s signature “devastating caustic drones” (Ad Hoc) via her custom bass guitar and synthesizers.
An assistant to the late pioneering electronic composer and Deep Listening founder Pauline Oliveros, C. Lavender’s astute editing and the binaural recording process places the listener within the heady fluctuating underworld she has created on this album. The recording environment of the geodesic dome allowed for sounds to transfer out beyond the confines of the walls as well as allowing outside sounds from the surrounding wilderness to permeate in like that of a mutating cell.
The album suggests “headphone listening” for the full hypnotic experience Myth of Equilibrium presents to the listener.
C. Lavender is a 2020 Pioneer Works (New York) Music Artist-in-Residence and Harvestworks Technology Immersion Program Scholar.
Previous recordings include “Fortitude in Wintarmanoth” (Ecstatic Peace!), “Peaceful Protest” compilation (RVNG Intl), and “Vanishing Light” (Hot Releases).
Catalog: EMEGO 281
Mastering: Taylor Deupree at 12k Mastering
Photography: C. Lavender
Layout: Richard Chartier
Press for "Myth of Equilibrium"
"...an album that sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard. Myth of Equilibrium transcends simple ideas of noise or new age, creating a form of “healing music” that feels more honest and invigorating on every level." - Bandcamp
"Lavender expands her pieces so quickly that space itself seems warped. Each track becomes its own universe, sometimes in miniature, sometimes—like during the seven-minute, dramatically morphing “Remedy Potion Extraction”—in massive vistas. Lavender practices healing sound baths, and Myth of Equilibrium definitely has curative sonic power, but nothing here mollifies or coddles. It’s confrontational music that could change you whether or not you want it to." -Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp
"Lavender here opts for a suite of shorter vignettes. It’s a deft choice, allowing the pieces their own personality as opposed to using the heavily reverberant space to craft endless oceans of sound. It also eschews the documentary feel of a straight recording through adroit editing and layering of timbres highlighting the interaction between electronics and the environment of the dome. The album suggests headphone listening, a wise recommendation given its depth of field and suave stereo maneuvering. The record ("Myth of Equilibrium") skillfully avoids potential new age cliches and manages to act as an invitation to engage with it deeply, no matter one’s spiritual ethos. The lesson is a useful one and it can’t be repeated enough: shut up, slow down and listen. " - Wire
"C. Lavender’s Myth of Equilibrium, in addition to featuring a perfect title for the current time, pulls some amazing aural landscapes from recordings within a geodesic dome. At times reminiscent of Lustmord’s subsonic space exploration and Ben Frost’s overdriven ambience, Myths also carries the spacious thrill you might have from listening to a bootleg concert recording of Suicide or Throbbing Gristle from the late 70s. " - CDM
"So one morning I committed to listening to Myth... I sat against the wall, hit play, and closed my eyes. As my mind slowly relaxed and the anxiety of stillness faded, my skin began to tingle. As layers of sound intensified I felt like I was gently falling, the way you sometimes do in a dream. My nose itched, my eyes watered. At the end I felt emptied out and emotionally raw, but also rested, a little more human, more connected to the rest of the world." - Women in Sound
"Her track, “Dimly Lit Exit,” features a continuous, textural drone, blaring and oscillating in and around your head like a swarm of millions of bees. Only they are non-threatening, but rather, they are protective and their presence is wholly mesmerizing and calming. Brief squawks and caws cycle through like the sonar call of submarine, so weightless it all feels." - Ears to Feed