Flora Yin Wong - Sacro Bosco

Originally conceived as an installation as part of an artist residency at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy, Flora Yin Wong's latest 20 minute piece now finds its way to a a beautifully assembled cassette, replete with the original paper talismans that in part inspired the project. There's some heavy ancient religious significance at the heart of the concept - essentially Daoist spiritualism and the locality of the holy mountain of Monteluco - and Wong's practice duly reflects the weighty associations, incorporating found sound recorded across various locales (some religious, some municipal) and using unconventional traditional instrumentation - the list reads: music box shamisen, gong, Korean 진고 drum, donkey skull, Tibetan ཏིང་ཤགས bells. So yes, this is serious business and certainly very grand and imposing in its overall composition - ie it sounds like big, cavernous music. Yet there's also some obvious concessions to modern electronic production processes and aesthetic (something Wong has been at the centre at with her record for Modern Love and the track she submitted to Mono No Aware), an almost dub-indeted, grandiose ambience particularly apparent on the second side, ala Kara Lis Coverdale, Sofie Birch, Ulla, Vanessa Amara et al. In short: a residency well spent, no doubt. Edition of 50.