Activaire

Tonefilm sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a black and white film in which life is calm and quiet and your daily actvities are accompanied by a piano and acoustic guitar will people talk to you or have a conversation in the next room. Every now and then the sound of the projector appears and you realise that this film is both on screen and off. The electronic sounds on this album have a more earthy feel to them and almost seem like they are there as part of the atmosphere rather than part of the song. I'm not sure if the intent was to create a series of short stories or narratives but thats what each track seems like. It's a lot like sleeping at the movies, you can hear everything, the music and dialogue in the film as well as the rustling of the people around you but you can't see any of it. The album is recorded so cleanly that it sometimes becomes unclear as to what is coming from the stereo and what is not. Its a beautiful simulation made up of field recordings with piano and guitar arrangements remincient of Durutti Column and Greg Davis. In those respects Tonefilm is indeed an experimental recording however, it speaks to us in a language that we are all familiar with in the context of viewing something rather than listening.