Blurred fragments of familiar sound layered with digital bits comprise
Canadian experimental electronic artist Mark Templeton's work. His
laptop compositions process the sound of acoustic instruments, field
recording edits and sampled audio, creating melodies buried in layers
of warm static.
After years of playing various stringed instruments, Templeton
studied under experimental musician and producer Lane Arndt focusing on
the structural levels of music: sound design, composition and
improvisation. As a result of this he began pursuing opportunities to
exploit his ideas in electro-acoustic improvisational music, both in
live and studio settings.
Templeton's distinct sound made its debut to the public in 2004. Shortly after, his first CD EP, Frail as Breath
was re-released in connection with net label Robotopera. In a live
environment, Templeton has appeared at unique venues like Stanley A.
Milner Library Theatre, Corbett Hall (for Robert Byron Willms's Rusting Sculpture) and nomadic festival Le Placard in connection with MUTEK 2005, Montreal's International Electronic Music Festival.
Aside from his solo works, Templeton also fronts Fields Awake. Led by
his guitar, the collective of artists create elegantly hymnal themes
incorporating altered field recordings and processed instrumentation.
In November of 2005, their first self-titled DVD and CD were presented
as an audiovisual installation for ten days at Edmonton, Alberta's
Latitude 53 - a contemporary visual cultural centre.
In 2006 Mark signed with Anticipate and began tidying his debut solo full-length album, Standing on a Hummingbird,
which will be released in February 2007. The new album refined his
direction into a wandering, symphonic representation of what he's been
working on for years, a culmination of study, collaboration, practice
and ingenuity. Similar to all of Mark's work it relates stringed
instruments and digital processing in a manner that reveals the
possibilities lurking beneath the familiar.