Zaft 006   Stolen Light   Blind

Track Listing:

No Track Listing

This CD was created as an experiment when my sound card died. I decided that I would do a complete disc without the ability to hear what I was creating. It turned out rather well.

Here's a review from Grinding into Emptiness:

'Deaf' would have been a more appropriate title for this disc since it was assembled without the benefit of hearing it at all before it was completed, an approach similar to painting in the dark. The individual behind both Stolen Light and Zaftig Research, his label, is Brett Lunceford. He came up with the idea of Blind, minus the most crucial of musical senses, right after his computer's soundcard died. Instead of letting that discourage him he decided to make an experiment out of it, and the result is quite impressive. This material is a prime example of how 'noise' and 'experimental' are often synonymous musical terms. Drawing from his collection of loops and samples, Lunceford instinctively manipulated, distorted and deconstructed these sources to form this thirty-minute disc. The outcome sounds surprisingly coherent and structured. Layers of abstract sounds wander over a sea of fuzz. This corrosive distortion coats each sound like battery acid, linking them all together with a common thread. The direction is constantly shifting, one sound leaking into the next. Some of it sounds like a building falling apart under missile attack. Some of it sounds like the hidden cavern under a pounding waterfall. Most of it sounds like organic sounds were doused in gasoline and lit on fire, their heavily charred remains grinding into one another as the flames lick the air. Lunceford mentions that he has no intention of recreating this experiment, afraid that his luck might run out if he does. He has a bunch of new releases in the works for Stolen Light though, and I'm curious to hear what this project sounds like when he's working with all his senses.