2021
Phil Maguire continues his sustained-tone series based on personal and civic histories with ijzer en staal. This diptych, realised on Serge synthesiser, ruminate on the themes from 2020’s Bairds of Gartsherrie (Beartown Records), turning the lens towards the physical processes involved in the production of iron. Monolithic forms writhe and swell, mapping mining for ore, hot blast process, growth/decline.
Mastered by Jos Smolders at earLABS
Layout by Rutger Zuydervelt
Photography by Phil Maguire
verz imprint
VI020
Review - ATTN:Magazine (UK)
The whole thing is exquisite analogic sound design. Maguire mirrors the process of chemical reduction (whereby iron ore is reduced to iron in its elemental form) through a stubborn resistance of compositional complexity, instead encouraging an appraisal of the shuffling low frequencies and overtonal glints that truly sing when the interventions of the composer hand are intentionally scarce.