Nathan Hubbard
Blind Orchid

catalog #: ALP044

Blind Orchid is Nathan Hubbard's second document of his solo music, following the recording Born On Tuesday (Circumvention Music, 2004). Throughout, the polyphonic nature of the music finds Hubbard melding the pinpoint attacks and sharp decay of his acoustic percussion with the extended sustain and color shifts of his homemade amplified instruments and no input mixer.

Hubbard's percussion collection has grown enormously in the past few years and while each track employs unique instrumentation, miking and signal processing, the unifying factor is the room. Hubbard has always thought of the room and the drum as one and the same - resonant objects with an implied need for activity. The starting point is where to place the instruments and microphones. From there, Hubbard began to branch outward, doing multiple re-recordings of tracks by playing them back into the room, placing the microphones within objects to change the sound, playing drums into the piano, etc.

Hubbard expands upon this approach by using his voice on several pieces to add rhythmic impetus and overdubbing to create the oceanic proportions of wisdom of not knowing II or the resonant percussion on the title track. Additionally, prerecorded source material forms a soundworld to play with and against in circle within a circle; sampler adds foreground in witchball or forms a complete piece as in i/nside.

Hubbard often refers to the scope of his music as "solo to large ensemble," and the music of Blind Orchid shares close similarities to his larger works - his Skeleton Key Orchestra project or the recent (compositions 1998-2005) - in their expanded forms, contrasting shapes and in depth look at pacing and flow. Also intriguing is the correlation of the music to the artwork with its multiple layers matching and contrasting the stratified sound world of the music. In many ways, Hubbard solo music appears to be a blueprint of his larger work, giving the listener a look into his creative process.

Produced, recorded and mixed by Nathan Hubbard. April 13th, 2005 - November 2nd, 2006.