13. Laurie SpiegelThe Expanding Universe
I’ve listened to ‘The Expanding Universe’ – the title track, which is about 24 minutes long – pretty much every night for the past four years. I don’t mean any disrespect to it as a piece of music, it’s an amazing record, the textures of it and the quality, but even despite its title, ‘The Expanding Universe’, I find it to be so still.
Eliane Radigue was my wake up, and this is my going to sleep – so I did put some thought into this list! Laurie Spiegel is unlike Eliane Radigue’s music, which travels so far. This music gets lumped in the same category as Eliane’s, I suppose because they’re female artists making electronic music, but it does such a disservice to everyone, both composers and listeners. Maybe on the surface you could say there are similarities, but in reality their music is so different in structure, conception and spirit. Laurie Spiegel’s has got this wild quality – a haze – but it’s so bright sounding. In the band [Hen Ogledd] Dawn uses a Korg synthesizer and that’s got a similar glassy quality to it. It’s an interesting place to operate.
This record is important to me for different reasons to others on the list because it’s become such a part of my existence. Every night it’s my ritual – I put on my app for tinnitus, which is water sounds, and then I play ‘The Expanding Universe’, and go to bed. Generally I’ll be asleep before it ends, and if I’m not, I’ll just play it again.
