4097 - a Rhode Island remix

Kees de Groot's reimagining of his own field recording as part of our Oblique Strategies project. He says: "he two Oblique Strategies I was given were: Simple Subtraction, and Is Something Missing.

I found these strategies wonderfully contradictory and was musing about them during about a 2-hour wait. I was given the number 4097 (hence the title of this track) and I was told to go to the announced counter when my number was called. A loud voice would call out four-digit numbers followed by a counter number. Sometimes these would be large sequences of numbers and it would put me slightly on edge becoming worried that I might miss my number. The numbers were called out in seemingly random order.

While I was waiting I thought to record the ambience in the room. There were a number of children making noises and I decided to use these mostly for the track. I also used the announcer voice and sliced up the numbers so that I could reconstitute them and use them rhythmically within Ableton Live and with the SparkLE drum machine.

To work with the strategies, I left my number out of the counts from 4090 to 4100. I filled in this missing piece with the SparkLE rhythm and at the very end of the track. Ahh, finally it was my turn. So I used the cards conceptually to drive the composition and to represent the anxiety one feels in waiting rooms. Waiting is indeed the hardest part."