Flux + Mutability Explained

Flux + Mutability
Type:studio
Artist:David Sylvian and Holger Czukay
Cover:Flux + Mutability.jpg
Released:4 September 1989[1]
Recorded:December 1988
Studio:Inner Space Studio, Cologne
Genre:Ambient
Length:37:55
Label:Venture, Virgin[2]
Producer:David Sylvian, Holger Czukay
Chronology:David Sylvian
Prev Title:Plight and Premonition
Prev Year:1988
Next Title:Weatherbox
Next Year:1989

Flux + Mutability is the second collaboration between David Sylvian and Holger Czukay.[3] It was released in September 1989. The music consists of two instrumental tracks improvised by the participants.

The album was reissued by Gronland in 2018.[4]

Production

The album was recorded at Can's Inner Space Studio.[5]

Critical reception

Reviewing the reissue package, Pitchfork wrote that "Czukay’s side is the more active of the two. Driven by a small drum pattern played by Can percussionist Jaki Liebezeit, the piece is evocatively subtitled 'A Big, Bright, Colourful World'. Its light synth drones and radio noise are illuminated by the lens flares of Markus Stockhausen’s flugelhorn and then slightly darkened by some fragmented guitar figures added by another Can member, Michael Karoli."[6] The Rolling Stone Album Guide opined that Flux was the more interesting of the two Czukay/Sylvian collaborations, but wrote that "why anyone would bother making such a distinction is hard to say, given the generally vacuous nature of the music." Fact wrote that "while Plight & Premonition felt like a study in unease, wracked with paranoia, Flux + Mutability admits the possibility, if not any certainty, of earthly bliss."[5]

Track listing

  1. "Flux (A Big, Bright, Colourful World)" (Sylvian, Czukay) – 16:56
  2. "Mutability (A New Beginning Is in the Offing)" (Sylvian, Czukay) – 20:59

Personnel

Additional personnel

Published by Opium (Arts) Ltd./Spoon Music

External links

Notes and References

  1. 26 August 1989. New Album Releases. Music & Media. 17. 13 March 2022.
  2. Book: Beyond and Before: Progressive Rock since the 1960s. Paul. Hegarty. Martin. Halliwell. June 23, 2011. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. 9781441114808. Google Books.
  3. Web site: Holger Czukay | Biography & History. AllMusic.
  4. Web site: Grönland reissue David Sylvian & Holger Czukay's 1980s collaborations - The Wire. The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music.
  5. Web site: The Essential... David Sylvian - Page 9 of 11. February 8, 2012.
  6. Web site: David Sylvian / Holger Czukay: Plight & Premonition / Flux & Mutability. Pitchfork.