Pacific 231 - Deep Jet, Soundscapes of Conflict

Pacific 231 – Deep Jet (Soundscapes of Conflict) – Aussaat – Aussaat 32 – CD – 2024.

          1.    F-104 Lockheed 1958.

          2.    A-10

          3.    F-16.

          4.    Gripen – E.

          5.    F-18.

          6.    Ordinance AGM-65.

          7.    Ordinance Hydra 70.

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Pacific 231 is a French project made by Pierre Jolivet, it stretches right back to the early 80s. Initially, the work fell in line with the Power Electronics of that era that was in its infancy at the time, present day work now is made of different sounds that explore the limits of sound. The 1983-86 Compendium on Tesco from 2011 captures the early work perfectly.

Deep Jet contrasts noises in different compositions, the most consistent one being jet roars that seem to be field recordings. The individual track titles are named after the jets that provide the main sound source for each track. The harmonious sounds contrast the Jet roars to express the dual nature of technology, in that it can advance us through it’s benefits and also serve as a force of destruction – this happens across several of the tracks.

F-104 Lockheed 1958 is pitches of electronic sounds and jet roars that serve as a disruption of ambient soundscapes, almost an electronic battle of nature and technology. The ambient combinations of buzz and drone sound like a recreation of a field recording. In contrast to this, the jet sounds do come across as the sampled sounds - there is a sense of irony that the jet sounds are the natural sounds against the artificial nature scene. Maybe it is addressing that technology has become a new natural?

The second track A-10 uses a base of contrasting drones with the roar of the engine to layer the track. The harmonious drones that build up begin to give off a symphonic feel, a sense of beauty is achieved here, it's no longer purely just contrasts. F-16 is a deeper roar, distortion that sounds like rain and harmonic pitches to layer the composition. At times this breaks down to industrial sounds and the jet roar, leaving a recreation dominant artificial human landscape. Gripen-E demonstrates a clear, aggressive use of jet field recordings that rise over the quieter delicate layer of noises. This serves as the nature environment that is continually disrupted by the machines – that is the core concept of Deep Jet. Sharper pitched sounds dominate across F-18, this is the point where the work raises the aggression to uncomfortable levels, I like the shift that happens here. Ordinance AGM-65 feels purely technological, as if a dominance has been fully achieved amongst the louder and quieter electronic sounds. AGM-65 continues into Hydra 70, as the sounds all eventually die into the distance.

All I have heard in contrast to this is the earlier Power Electronics Pacific 231 work which is good and of its time, this achieves a clinical degree of conceptualisation that Whitehouse excelled in when the project was alive. However Pacific 231 has progressed to make work that is purely their own and in its own field entirely. This is serious, heavily conceptualised work.

Coventry to Nottingham 2024.