i’m concluding my January exploration of interesting free music with Heitsi-Eibib-Rec by Spanish sound artist Francisco López. Usually, López prefers to leave his works untitled, so Heitsi-Eibib-Rec is therefore somewhat unusual. Though the work doesn’t have an accompanying note – except to say it uses “original environmental sound matter recorded worldwide between 2003 and 2007” – and the artwork offers the precise opposite of anything resembling a clue, the title appears to be a clear reference to Heitsi-Eibib, a mythological figure in African (specifically Khoekhoe) folklore. That being said, the various rather minimal references to him i’ve been able to find don’t shed much if any light on the specifics of what López is exploring in the piece. However, several sources describe him as a shape-shifter, which does at least loosely correspond to one aspect of Heitsi-Eibib-Rec.
Apropos: the shape-shifting aspect occurs between several related but unique forms of mechanistic material. Not initially, though: López opens with what seems in hindsight to be a red herring, 45 seconds of deep bass fading to soft air noise. The first section abruptly starts up, a machine-like pattern, all metallic clunks and hydraulic hisses. The pattern alters subtly, until around four minutes in, when a second, timbrally distinct, section starts to take over, the one transforming into the other. This one is typified by loud thunks, gradually yielding to chuntering, granular noise.
But then everything stops; López breaks things apart and begins a new sequence of light random clatter, slowly expanding into a highly elaborate network of parallel impacts and gentle ricochets. This in turn transforms into the clunks and ticks of an increasingly intricate clockwork mechanism, which in time assumes vast proportions, with us seemingly embedded in the heart of it. Eventually, that apparent red herring from the start makes another brief appearance, this time heralding an explosion, the piece erupting in a messy torrent of white-hot electronic stuff. We emerge from this into the most varied section so far, where sustained deep tones form the bedrock for vague sounds and a very rapid pulse. It’s an exhilarating, immersive sequence, that López only allows to continue for a minute or so, whereupon everything is cancelled out except for rumble and glitch.
This sets up the final section of Heitsi-Eibib-Rec, a new form of soft mechanical rhythms, surrounded by the muffled sounds of what might be one or a multitude of trains, speeding along in close proximity. In not time we’re surrounded by diverse noises, driven on by momentum, seemingly unstoppably until López pulls the plug.
As well as being a shape-shifter, some sources also describe Heitsi-Eibib as a trickster. Perhaps that’s also at play in Heitsi-Eibib-Rec, Francisco López indulging not only in gradual transformations but also mischievous twists and interruptions.
Composed in 2012, Heitsi-Eibib-Rec was released the following year as a free download by Yugen Art.
