My Fun: This is All I Had Time For
The Land Of

Not a whole lot of information accompanies the cheekily titled This Is All I Had Time For from My Fun (Justin Hardison), who continues his long-standing relationship with The Land Of with this thirty-nine-minute outing. Originally featured as part of his sound journal during the past few years, the six settings were created using field recordings, electronics, and vinyl records.

It begins strongly with “Long Distance,” a dozen minutes of long, flowing trails of ambient-drone textures that might just as easily have been brought to life by Stephan Mathieu as Hardison. Real-world clatterings advance and recede within a grainy mix that mutates consistently with the material at times presented as a smooth, soothing shimmer and at other moments as a rough-hewn mass of sandpapery textures.The ten-minute “The Sea, the Sea” shows Hardison's as adept as any other producer at crafting an ambient-drone setting that's equally transporting and immersive. Field recordings figure prominently in “Unwind,” as stormy rumble, whirrs, and creaks suggest the act of someone fixing a motor outside—until, that is, celestial splashes of harp swirls and pianos add an additional accompaniment to the real-world soundtrack. “Saturday” likewise draws upon field recordings to evoke the impression of a lazy weekend morning spent listening to Chinese classical music and working noisily on various projects of one kind or another.

Though a title such as “Car Alarm Birds” hints at the source material used in a typical My Fun piece, the originating elements are often camouflaged by the extensive processing transformations Hardison applies, resulting in settings that retain traces of their origins but also are far removed from them. In this case as well as on past The Land Of releases like Sonorine (2007) and Camaraderie (2010), This Is All I Had Time For makes good on the label's credo to explore “ the beauty and detail of everyday sounds.”

March 2012