As we saw before on Cover Versions, Andrew Pekler is no stranger to concept-based composition. For his newest project, the USSR-born composer bought five prepaid cell phones and mounted them on the strings of a grand piano. Stationary phones were set up in the audience. Those attending were encouraged to call the phones as much as possible. The contact mic-generated tones were then fed into a voltage controlled modular synthesizer.
Recordings from that mindfuck of a performance are presented on the A-side of Pekler’s new LP for Senufo Editions and Entr’acte, jokingly titled The Prepaid Piano & Re-Played. On the B-side, Pekler does literally re-play the results of that evening’s performance, running the modular work through Ableton Live’s audio to midi function, and capturing the results through a simple synth set-up. Both sides of this remarkable disc sound like some forgotten vintage synth recording from the BBC archives, i.e. Raymond Scott or Suzanne Ciani. The listening experience is all the more enriched by Pekler’s expert sense of humor and listenability, rendering this an entirely approachable sonic experiment. Pick it up here, and listen to a collaged excerpt below.