24/01/2022
Robert Ashley - Automatic Writing (1979)
A multiplex enigma, a minimalistic void conceiving the anguish and despair of Robert Ashley, unconsciously revealing the catalyst of his living nightmare through his 1979 composition ‘Automatic Writing’.
“My mind is censoring my own mind” he refrains a dozen times throughout the 46-minute project, under his discretions of what he described as “a mild form of Tourettes Syndrome”. Ashley is a character who will not compromise his idiosyncratic nuances for convention or formality, optimising a multi-dimensional palette to illustrate the somber and gloom that defines the context in which this project was conceived.
When released in 1979, New York’s famous ‘No Wave’ scene was near its peak, comprising an entire disregard for industry authority or new-emerging trends of glitter by way of its dichotomy, ‘New Wave’. Ashley presents these conventions of sonic anarchy through the impromptu byproduct of his defeatism, signing his death certificate via trickling organ keys and involuntary cries of dejection.
Ashley’s long-term companion and collaborator Mimi Johnson translates Ashley’s twisting in near-whispering French, annotating his attempt to embody a concept beyond his own consciousness. Johnson operates as the transcriber of Ashley’s incapacity to process the whirlwind and turmoil that is his own mind. With the exception of Johnson, every facet of the record assists in underlining Ashley’s sorrow. These elements are intricately and discretely presented, most notably the band playing in the shallows of the studio next door.
Elements drop in and out of this surrealist affair: just prior to the 18th minute, Ashley temporarily eliminates the impromptu murmurs of the organ, leaving only the clattering of a polymoog, himself and Mimi Johnson’s translations. Through this technique, Ashley manages to isolate his present mindscape whilst still capitalising on integral support from conjuncting participants.
Additionally, many of the winding features are heavily panned and glitch repetitively, as if Ashley was envisioning ambient music two decades from when the project was released. In this way, Ashley is a minimalistic composer who introduced groundbreaking technical concepts to ambient music. Though the implications of Ashley’s efforts would not see fruition until long after.
Robert Ashley is an orchestrator who utilizes tranquility in creating a flourishing garden divulged before context. He incorporates a strict selection of nihilistic additives that accommodate the pretext for Ashley’s circumstance; the composition serving as a prolific document of his steadily decreasing quality of life. The catalyst being a winding darkness that is unimaginable for Ashley, the curse presenting itself to an audience; crawling behind the tinted lenses of Ashley’s aviators.
