Transient v Resident is Chris Bywater and Martin Archer, both playing synthesizers, electronics and amplified objects. The group works in the broad genre of creative electronic music, which for us is a direct songline from the early experiments of Stockhausen and Dockstader, through the classic German synthesists of the 1970s and 1980s to the dark ambient and dub soundsmiths of today. The group is very much about playing and creating music in real time. Finished works arise from single improvisations, or by editing together parts from improvisations. Despite the improvised nature of the music, the end result can be both tonal and rhythmic. Electrical Shroud is the first CD release by the group, and is taken from sessions recorded at various times throughout 1996 and 1997. When we listened back to the many hours of music from this period, we decided to give the whole CD a consistent mood and character by choosing only tracks that fitted with our idea for the overall sound, emphasising the dark and abrasive side to the group. Most of the material finally chosen is loosely based on structures which we used for live performances during that period, although (as is generally the case for TvR) all the music is improvised in real time without any overdubs and with a minimum of editing. The finished sound is raw and spontaneous, and the complex interactions within the music lift TvR out of the world of polite electronica and into a universe of infinite variety and texture.
