Art. What qualifies and who decides? The answer seems to be that anything framed as art by an artist or group of them has to be considered as art. The oft-derided but much-loved Karl Pilkington once argued that a flock of birds soaring through the sky could be considered art. He was right. Put a frame around it and that's what it is. And what of my distant-past experience of watching several ravers (clearly in their "happy place") dancing non-stop to the sound of a dripping tap? It must have sounded a lot like minimal electronica. If it made them happy to move to it, who was I to judge? Perhaps someone should have had the foresight to whip out a field recorder, take a sample, and use this in a track? Or even just to release the recording as it was?

And that brings me around to this release and why I think it is important. According to the press release, Knitwear Field Recordings by Carpet Merchant is a project created as a tribute or successor to Oliver Payne's Arcade Field Recordings. Whilst the latter dealt with field recordings (and remixes) of Los Angeles video game arcades, Knitwear Field Recordings applies the same approach to the creator's father's knitwear workshop, documenting the manufacturing process. The tracks have titles such as "Preparing Programs", "Tacking", "Cutting", "Linking", and “Working as a Unit". And, in spite of what I know some readers will be thinking at this point, "Working as a Unit" is exactly what these pieces do.

"Flat Knit From the Past" sounds like something people would wave glow sticks and stamp their feet to. At just 21 seconds, I only wish this one (like a lot of the tracks) would continue for longer. "Flat Knit Medley" (one of the two "full length" pieces at 3:36) sounds like a broken synthesizer loop accompanied by a malfunctioning ASMR recording. We know the sounds are actually from a machine in a workshop, and that's the point. A synthesizer is a machine. A computer is a machine. The artist decides which sounds from that machine should contribute to their music.

This is indisputably "industrial" in every sense of the world. And it is definitely music. There is rhythm, drone, notes, harmonics, even chords and melodies if you want to find them. Every whirring fan, every clicking or beeping piece of equipment, contributes to a truly enveloping sound world. You can imagine the knitting workshop just as much as you can relate the pieces to artists such as Autechre. What adds a strange quality to the experience is the presence of human voices in the background on many of the recordings. These calm and natural (but mostly distant and unintelligible) voices serve as a counterbalance to the abrasive quality of the machinery and add a warmth and humanity so often (intentionally) absent from the "harsh" music that this project subverts.

This is not a project that everyone will appreciate. It is not "easy" to listen to. There will be no "hits" from this album. But, its very nature - in keeping with the philosophies of electroacoustic music and conceptual art - makes it worth your time (15 minutes in total) to explore. All proceeds from this project are being donated to Southwark Foodbank (southwark.foodbank.org.uk), and there is talk of a remix album being produced.

Ultimately, you can decide for yourself about this project. In the process of listening, you'll experience something genuinely unique - perhaps different and perhaps unexpectedly similar to the music that normally excites you.

Knitwear Field Recordings is available now for streaming and download at https://onlineconversations.bandcamp.com/album/knitwear-field-recordings.