Sarah Peebles

Sarah Peebles has long been a proponent of showcasing avant garde 20th century compositions by women through her radio show on CIUT, The Audible Woman. This time, Peebles contributes to myriad abstract works with her own adventures in sound with the co-operation of other musicians, producers, pets and creatures. Insect Groove is improvised instrumentals by the likes of Nilan Perera (guitars and processors), Ko Ishikawa (the sho: a mouth organ), Jin Hi Kim (electric komungo: Korean zither), ambient producer David Toop (spoken word) and Sarah Peebles, who uses various software programs to rearrange sound samples and also plays a sho. Insect Groove is sound art made for deep, introspective listening. On Insect Groove, one hears the buzzing of insects, the sounds of running water, resonating voiceovers, feedback noises and instrumental sounds stark against the enshrouding ambience. The pieces are unconventional, even for improvised music, and are in keeping with the material released on the Lucky Kitchen and Accretions label. Peebles demands a lot of her listeners, specifically to accommodate her homage to "...the remaining pristine forests of British Columbia, Canada, which are rapidly being converted into American suburbs." As a 21st century recording, Peebles successfully challenges the listener with her unique arrangement of improvised sounds, expressing her ecological manifesto in a refreshing way.