Time Wharp’s second album for Astro Nautico, Feel No Pain, deals in remedial audio, undulating sound tonics for the relief of suffering.
A collection of minimalist synthesizer solo improvisations, Feel No Pain is at home in the neo-New Age zeitgeist. Time Wharp (Patrick Loggins) finds an idiosyncratic voice among this transnational and intergenerational thread of experimentalist sound healers. Their tender soundworld attunes listeners to the fullest extent of their capacity for peace of mind and spiritual restoration through a humble economy of heartfelt melodic elements.
Wharp’s process of creation on Feel No Pain was acutely individual. Each solo improvisation was recorded in solitude between 2013 and 2015, as guideposts for times and mindsets both dark and light. The synth exercises announce themselves like talismans, warding off the bad vibes of anxiety and self-decay. ‘Birds of North America’ matches cascading synth arpeggios with walls of tonal reverb, forming a protective architecture around this moment, this mind, this body. ‘XKEYSCORE’ and ‘3-Audio’ set mind-body-moment in motion, the former’s interlocking arpeggiator strata driving a whimsical dance; while the latter simulates the galloping rhythms of digital horses using feedback delay loops. The stuck-ness of cycles gives way to movement: from despair to hope.
After years of personal practice, the retroactive collection of these cassette recordings delineates the full body of work presented here, coupling the openness to let feelings & sound wash over you with full belief in the power of music as sanctuary.
‘Feel No Pain’ is available now on cassette and all digital platforms:
astronautico.bandcamp.com/album/feel-no-pain
open.spotify.com/album/5oviBxhD2lP9JmobxGoH1r
itunes.apple.com/us/album/feel-no…ain/id1281592371
bleep.com/release/89431-time-wharp-feel-no-pain