Shatter it and pick up the pieces

Edmonton musician brings his beautiful, electro-acoustic experimentations to the University of Winnipeg

Edmonton musician Mark Templeton will incorporate music he’s never played live before into his set in Winnipeg at Send + Receive.

When Edmonton-based musician Mark Templeton moved to Montreal for a year-and-a-half, he thought he would make a lot of music while living in the French city. He was wrong.

“My time in Montreal was great, but at the same time, I found it a little more difficult, personally, to become motivated to create,” Templeton said by phone last week.

“I was a little surprised by that because I kind of expected that I would have more creative output, being in such a vibrant city.

“But that’s the thing, I think: It’s easy to take in a lot and coast, and not [create] a lot yourself in a city like Montreal.”

A renowned, experimental, electro-acoustic musician, Templeton’s latest release is a 12” record he put out this past summer called Sea Point. The album features three songs from his latest CD, Inland, as well as three new songs.

Templeton will use those new songs for the first time ever as the basis of an improvisational live performance when he appears at the University of Winnipeg’s Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 14 as part of the 11th annual Send + Receive festival of sound art.

The University of Winnipeg’s CKUW 95.9 FM is co-presenting the performance in celebration of the campus radio station’s 10th anniversary.

I kind of expected that I would have more creative output, being in such a vibrant city. But that’s the thing, I think: It’s easy to take in a lot and coast, and not [create] a lot yourself in a city like Montreal.

Mark Templeton, musician

He first garnered attention with his debut release, 2007’s Standing on a Hummingbird.

Using acoustic instruments like guitar, banjo and violin as the basis of his songs, Templeton records various parts before chopping them up and splicing them together on his computer. The result is beautiful, atmospheric music that has been described as “pastoral” but also “painterly.”

“On Hummingbird I chose to hide the sources a little more,” Templeton said of the difference between that release and Inland. “After it came out, I was a little more comfortable with allowing the instruments and the sound sources to breathe and come to the surface.”

Another difference is the use of voice on Inland. Templeton would record a very unpolished vocal track “then shatter it and pick up the remnants and pieces and put them in a new order” to create new sounds.

Templeton’s works have been commissioned by organizations of contemporary dance, film and audiovisual disciplines. At times, Edmonton-based experimental filmmaker aAron Munson’s visuals have accompanied his live performances.

Earlier this year, the duo’s ongoing collaboration resulted in the release of M. Templeton & aA. Munson: Acre Loss on CD and DVD. The project features visuals by both men, set to music created by both men.

“Acre Loss and Inland are both kind of foreshadowing the direction I’m moving into,” Templeton said.

“I’m interested in seeing what happens in the next couple years – what recorded works will sound like and how they relate to Acre Loss and Inland – because I feel it will be a balance of the two.”

Published in Volume 64, Number 6 of The Uniter (October 8, 2009)

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