Sleep it all here: Part1, P2, P3, P4, P5
Friday, 28 April 2017
M4X R1CHTER - SLEEP (2015)
We have previously posted the benchmark of sleep-aid composition (Sleeping Tapes by Jeff Bridges), and Richter's own short, listenable version of this project. Today, we post the whole 8 1/2 hour sleepable version--researched and composed to sync with our sleeping patterns. We have tried this album once, and will try again before we post our thoughts and reactions in the comments. We would enjoy to hear your thoughts on the process or success of the work.
Sleep it all here: Part1, P2, P3, P4, P5
Sleep it all here: Part1, P2, P3, P4, P5
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I can't tell you how long I've been looking for this. Your blog is a thing of greatness and wonder and I visit it every day. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the positive feedback! Glad, as well, to have what you're looking for.
ReplyDeleteTwo of us tried it out and reported to each other. I myself have tried the album three+ times. We agreed that the piece was actually quite hard to fall asleep to. Something almost grating at the beginning, too orchestral maybe. She thinks it took her about 40 minutes to fall asleep...making her slumber coincide with track #3, "Dream 2 (entropy)." I was out early into track #2, slow for a gifted faller-asleep like myself. We also agreed that we thought the record, which starts with "Dream 1" probably wasn't synced well to bring on into sleep. Is this really a sleep-aid or a dream aid? Richter himself calls it "an invitation to dream," according to Pitchfork.
ReplyDeleteMy colleague found that she slept well after she was out. She reported a few vague conscious realizations of the music's presence during her sleep. She reported contentment in sleep. She awoke well-rested, perhaps slightly better than usual. She enjoyed the experience once she was asleep.
I have tried the album three full times at sleep time now. Each time, I awoke numerous times, more than usual. (I do wake once most nights.) Once awake I found it hard to drift to the music. On the second time I abandoned the experiment right there and turned it off. I stuck with it for my last, most recent attempt. Sleep was unnoteworthy.(I should confess that my sound system is not as clear and precise as the recording deserves.) My judgement on the "success" of the composer's experiment is quite negative--it just didn't seem to relax me, keep me asleep, or aid in dreaming, lucid or otherwise.
However, I have played the album in a number of shorter excerpted shifts during wake hours, to listen to it. There have been a number of times when I found myself lulling in conscious, daytime slumber and dreaming. The same, however, can be said for his shorter album, From Sleep.
We would enjoy to hear anyone's experience and evaluation of the project.