Robert Fripp of King Crimson, photo via IMDb
It’s been quite a year for English musician, songwriter, and record producer, Robert Fripp and today marks a very special day in his musical journey. Fripp and his wife, Toyah Willcox have actively been posting lighthearted and silly rock song cover performances to Toyah’s YouTube channel each week, while simultaneously Fripp has held fast to his pledge from a year ago to post previously-unreleased weekly installments of his own ambient Frippertronic series entitled,
Music For Quiet Moments.
The project was initiated on May 1st of 2020 following an announcement on Fripp’s own website. Fripp dedicated himself to release a soundscape every Friday for fifty-two weeks on DGMLive, Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music and all the main online music platforms. In the April 29th announcement, Fripp’s producer, David Singleton remarked:
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Hopefully something that will nourish us, and help us through these Uncertain Times. I have certainly enjoyed the peace that comes with editing and mastering them.
Turning a seeming disadvantage to our advantage, a year at home without touring offers the chance to listen for the first time in many cases to existing live recordings. And there are treasures to be found!
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The announcement was followed by a brief write-up by Fripp outlining the philosophy and concept he had in mind for the series. Fripp wrote:
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Music For Quiet Moments…
I
A Quiet Moment is how we experience a moment: the moment which is here, now and available.
Quiet moments are when we put time aside to be quiet;
and also where we find them.
Sometimes quiet moments find us.
Some places have an indwelling spirit, where quiet is a feature of the space:
perhaps natural features in the landscape;
perhaps intentionally created, as in a garden;
perhaps where a spirit of place has come into being over time, as in an English country churchyard.
Quiet may be experienced with sound, and also through sound;
in a place we hold to be sacred, maybe on a crowded subway train hurtling towards Piccadilly or Times Square.
A Quiet Moment is more to do with how we experience time than how we experience sound.
A Quiet Moment prepares the space where Silence may enter.
Silence is timeless.
II
My own quiet moments, over fifty-one years of being a touring player, have been mostly in public places where, increasingly, a layer of noise has intentionally overlaid and saturated the sonic environment.
III
Quiet Moments of my musical life, expressed in Soundscapes, are deeply personal; yet utterly impersonal: they address the concerns we share within our common humanity.
Paradoxically, they have mostly taken place in public contexts inimical and unsupportive of quiet.
Some of these Soundscapes are inward-looking, reflective.
Some move outwards, with affirmation.
Some go nowhere, simply being where they are.
Robert Fripp
Tuesday 28th. April, 2020;
Bredonborough, Middle England.
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Today marks the publication of the fifty-second and final installment of Fripp’s year-long series. Every Friday, the artist has faithfully shared thoughtful and introspective soundscapes which serve as a meditative medicine for melancholy during these difficult times.
Early on in the project, the ambient radio program
Hearts of Space’s producer and presenter, Stephen Hill dedicated a full transmission to showcase the first four installments of the series for programme #1251 broadcast June 19th, 2020.
From the Hearts of Space website for that transmission, Hill wrote:
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Through his work with Eno, Fripp developed an analog looping system he called Frippertonics. Looping repeats musical phrases with a delay and layers them on top of themselves, turning musical fragments into continuous streams of sound. When combined with Fripp's sophisticated guitar technique, Frippertonics has produced a series of refined electronic soundscapes.
On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the sublime soundscapes of ROBERT FRIPP, on a program called MUSIC FOR QUIET MOMENTS. We'll feature the first four releases in a projected series of 50 weekly installments available online at Fripp's website DGMLIVE.com for exactly 99 cents each.
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These Frippertronic soundscapes flow seamlessly from one track to the next. The complete library of fifty-two pieces clocks in at a total of over 8 hours and 47 minutes of contemplative music, and serves as a magnificent soundbed for work, quiet reflection, or sleep. It’s been quite a year, and at last the series is complete.
Music For Quiet Moments is highly recommended as some of the finest ambient music of the pandemic period to date. For anyone who enjoyed Fripp’s prior Frippertronic soundworlds, these are definitely worth your time and exploration.