Circa is Zurich based sound/installation artist and designer Ralph Steinbrüchel’s (b.1969) first full length CD and first US release. Based on his sound installation zeit= which was exhibited on August 9, 2001 at the Platzspitz Park in Zurich, Switzerland, all sound sources on Circa are recordings of rain. Zeit=‘s sounds formed a landscape, a soundscape in it’s original meaning. Samples and tones create an intensive atmosphere. Sixteen speakers were spread throughout the Platzspitz Park. Each releasing zeit= (translated: “at the same time”) a sound, a tone, a noise. What we usually only know as a finished product (on records or during a concert) the visitor of the installation forms during this day: moving throughout the landscape of sound, collecting tones, sounds, noises, and form unique spacial compositions and arrangements.
This recording has been generously supported by Pro Helvetia, Arts Council of Switzerland. Steinbrüchel’s painterly sonic aesthetic combines the clicky harmonic loops comparable to that of Sogar with the quiet evolving patterns of artists like Richard Chartier.
In 2002, Steinbrüchel’s minicd zwischen.raum on the Swiss label Domizil was awarded the prestigious Max Brand Prize. In Spring 2000, Steinbrüchel founded his own label Synchron. With releases on Source Research (UK) and his own label Synchron, Steinbrüchel has created a unique vision and voice in the realm of electronic music.
