Video for "Scan Santo Stefano (A 27-Sided Argument)
vimeo.com/191669289

"A Weak Force That Binds" is Blake Marques Carrington's first full-length studio album since 2012, and the first using the moniker Russian Ark Sakura. The album is largely created using custom software synthesis in the Max/MSP/Jitter environment, with Carrington's "CSCAN", "HAE", and "GRAN_EXT" sound engines combining with ambient field recordings. Working with live accompaniment for the first time, drummer Mark Rice (Impossible Shapes, The Coke Dares, Honey Radar) helps bridge the gap between an ambient electronic aesthetic and raw, live rhythm. Also sitting in on one track is trumpeter Paul Giess, improvising on a traditional Catholic hymn.

About the sound engines:

"CSCAN" takes architectural plans of various structures and translates them into polyrhythmic sound corresponding with their structural arrangement. The black-and-white image of the plan is read by groups of oscillators controlled in real time, which convert pixel values from 0 to 1 to audio signals in the range -1 to 1. The oscillator groups may scan the plan in synch, filling one body with low, middle and high filtered sound, or they may scan at different speeds or locations in the plan, resulting in more complex polyrhythms. The CSCAN engine is used most prominently in tracks 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

"HAE" is a mixing engine for tuned, over-reverbed field recordings. Families of sound may be loaded -- "Cicadas D", "Reflecting Pond", "Fountain", etc -- each with a range of pitches that are then played with faders on the mixing console. The HAE engine is featured most prominently on the two opening tracks.

"GRAN_EXT" stands for Granular Extender and is a method of stretching sounds in real time using a windowed granular synthesis technique. It is used only on track two to create the various insect sounds.

Field recordings featured in the album were recorded primarily while at artist residencies at Haeinsa Temple in South Korea and Tofte Lake Center in Minnesota. Additional field recordings made in Tokyo with support from the Jerome Foundation. Post-production support was provided in part by a faculty development grant at Pratt Institute, and use of Doepfler modular system was provided while artist-in-residence at Alfred University Institute for Electronic Arts.

Special thanks to Jiwoong Yoon, Steven Garen, Liz Engelman, Tsuguma Suzuki, Leo Lazar, Jomar Statkun and everyone at This Red Door Westwerk, Devin Henry, Alon Ilsar, Mark Bolotin, Asher Remy-Toledo, Isabel Draves, Andy Horwitz, Melissa Levin, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Pratt Institute Dept of Digital Arts, and my partner Ana Laura and son Benicio.