Lawrence English
{{Short description|Australian composer, artist, and curator}}
{{distinguish|Larry English}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Lawrence English
| image = Lawrence English, Sydney 2023.jpg
| alt =
| caption = English in 2023
| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|39|2015|June|9}}
| birth_place = Brisbane, Queensland, Australia{{Cite web|title=Interview: Lawrence English|url=https://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/lawrence-english|access-date=2021-12-02|website=Tiny Mix Tapes|language=en}}
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = Queensland University of Technology (BA, MA, PhD)
| known_for = Sound
| notable_works =
| website = {{URL|lawrenceenglish.com}}
}}
Lawrence English (born 1976) is an Australian composer, artist, and curator from Brisbane. His work is broadly concerned with the politics of perception, specifically he is interested in the nature of listening, and sounds' capability to occupy the body.{{cite web|last1=Twells|first1=John|title=I want to do things that have meaning|url=http://www.factmag.com/2014/08/19/i-want-to-do-things-that-have-meaning-an-interview-with-one-of-ambient-musics-modern-masters-lawrence-english/|work=Fact Magazine|date=19 August 2014 |accessdate=1 June 2015}} He is the director of the imprint Room40, started in 2000. He and Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu have an ongoing collaboration named Hexa.{{Cite web |author=Loren |date=24 July 2021 |title=Hexa returns (Lawrence English + Jamie Stewart) |url=https://www.scenepointblank.com/news/records/2021/07/24/hexa-returns-lawrence-english-jamie-stewart/ |access-date=18 August 2022 |website=Scene Point Blank}}
Sound works
English's music is recognised as exploring "environmental and musical sources and is highly regarded for its intelligent invocation of perception, memory and space".{{cite web|last1=Zuvela|first1=Danni|title=10 years of room40: privileging the ears|url=http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue97/9881|website=realtime|accessdate=1 June 2015}} On his 2014 album Wilderness of Mirrors,{{cite web|last1=howe|first1=brian|title=wilderness of mirrors|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19559-lawrence-english-wilderness-of-mirrors/|work=Pitchfork}} he outlines his approach to composition "For me it's about a kind of struggle between almost nothing and almost everything. Sometimes one sound can be too much and other times 50 layers seems lacking in the depth you want to convey. I think at the heart of this question is dynamics, and I feel that's very much what this album is about. It's a slow reveal, I want it to be a seduction."{{cite web|last1=Wallen|first1=Doug|title=I want it to be a seduction|url=http://www.messandnoise.com/articles/4666064|website=Mess And Noise}}
He cites childhood experiences birdwatching for reed warbler with his father as the starting point for his interest in sound in space. He has stated, "If you just looked in the reeds you'd see nothing. If you listened you got an idea of space and a sense of where it might be, then you understood it. That's probably my first experience with these ideas of space and sound, which are basically the fundamental building blocks of what I've been interested in since then."{{cite web |url=http://crasierfrane.com/interviews/lawrence-english |title=Lawrence English |accessdate=8 October 2010 |author=Clark, Alistair |publisher=Crasier Frane |date=8 October 2010 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20110708201336/http://crasierfrane.com/interviews/lawrence-english |archivedate=8 July 2011 }} These experiences have led to a long engagement with field recordings, and more recently the development of theoretical approaches to the practice including his Relational Listening theory.{{cite web|last1=english|first1=lawrence|title=A Beginners Guide To Field Recording|url=http://www.factmag.com/2014/11/18/a-beginners-guide-to-field-recording/6/|work=Fact Magazine|date=18 November 2014 }}
Discography
=Studio albums=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| rowspan="1" style="width:22em;"| Title
! rowspan="1" style="width:22em;"| Details |
|---|
| scope="row"| Transit
|
|
| scope="row"| Happiness Will Befall
|
|
| scope="row"| Autumn
|
|
| scope="row"| Plateau (with Ai Yamamoto) |
|
| scope="row"| Merola Shoulders (with Domenico Sciajno) |
|
| scope="row"| For Varying Degrees of Winter
|
|
| scope="row"| Kiri No Oto
|
|
| scope="row"| Studies for Stradbroke
|
|
| scope="row"| Euphonia (with Tom Hall) |
|
| scope="row"| U (with Tujiko Noriko & John Chantler) |
|
| scope="row"| HB (with Francisco López) |
|
| scope="row"| A Colour for Autumn
|
|
| scope="row"| It's Up to Us to Live
|
|
| scope="row"| A Path Less Travelled (with Minamo) |
|
| scope="row"| And the Lived in
|
|
| scope="row"| Songs of the Living
|
|
| scope="row"| For / Not for John Cage
|
|
| scope="row"| Lonely Women's Club
|
|
| scope="row"| Suikinkutsu No Katawara Ni
|
|
| scope="row"| Wilderness of Mirrors
|
|
| scope="row"| A Path Less Travelled (with Stephen Vitiello) |
|
| scope="row"| Shadow of the Monolith (with Werner Dafeldecker) |
|
| scope="row"| Approaching Nothing
|
|
| scope="row"| Cruel Optimism
|
|
| scope="row"| Immediate Horizon (with Alessandro Cortini) |
|
| scope="row"| Selva Oscura (with William Basinski) |
|
| scope="row"| Lassitude
|
|
| scope="row"| Field Recordings from the Zone
|
|
| scope="row"| Observation of Breath
|
|
| scope="row"| Viento
|
|
| scope="row"| Eternal Stalker (with Merzbow) |
|
| scope="row"| Chthonic
|
|
| scope="row"| Even the Horizon Knows Its Bounds
|
|
Awards
=Queensland Music Awards=
The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006.{{cite web|url=https://www.queenslandmusicawards.com.au/about|title= About the Queensland Music Awards|website=Queensland Music Awards|access-date=21 March 2021}}
{{Awards table}} (wins only)
|-
| 2008{{cite web|url= https://www.queenslandmusicawards.com.au/past-winners/2008|title=Past Winners 2008|website=Queensland Music Awards|access-date=25 March 2021}}
| "Watching It Unfold"
| Electronic song of the Year
| {{won}}
|-
{{end}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{official website|http://www.lawrenceenglish.com/}}
- {{Discogs artist|Lawrence English}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:English, Lawrence}}
Category:20th-century Australian engineers
Category:20th-century Australian male artists
Category:21st-century Australian engineers
Category:21st-century Australian male artists
Category:Australian audio engineers
Category:Australian male artists
Category:Australian male composers
Category:Australian sound artists
Category:Musicians from Brisbane