The Empty Vessel Soundscape by Mark St.John Ellis
DNDC 022 CD 2020
€18
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Since November 2018 Mark St.John has been working on a new project using percussive bowls, a singing bowl, vinyl samples, loops and his voice. An extract from one of the recorded tracks was used in 2019 as a soundscape to two of the nagOffsite exhibitions he curated. This piece has now been taken further and has been used in an online sound piece to a two part film edited by Michael O'Reilly, soundtracks edited by Martin Quinn of JAM Studios and funded by Cavan Arts and the Arts Council of Ireland . The album takes one part and slowly builds on the structure introducing the vocal parts of the early music and traditional Irish singer Caitriona O'Leary. There are ten parts. The extract on this page is Part Six. In 2020 the album was previewed in its entirety in the beautiful setting of Chapel Royal of Dublin Castle as a soundscape.
The artwork is of a half finished Enso which is a hand painted circle by brush in either ink or paint. In Zen philosophy the Enso represents the act of trying to create a perfect circle by hand which is difficult and therefore represents the journey to completion and not the end.