JWPaton - Structures (2023)

A Note from JWPaton

Anyone who knows me, knows my obsession with the 1981 film Thief. The opening scenes show a cold, methodical, neon lit diamond heist soundtracked by Tangerine Dream. Contrasted with, the thief sharing a danish with a stranger fishing on an endless ocean at dawn. The heist is technical and calculated. The fishing is grounded and ancient.

I'm sure that I'm projecting some of my personal experiences onto the film unfairly. As over time i've come to see the line between these two scenes more and more blurred. The contrast between night and day, city and ocean, drill and rod, I see these less as a dichotomy and more as a merging of worlds that slowly collapse in on each other.

Choosing tracks for this release highlighted ideas that I've returned to for years. Technology and its place in the natural world. The way labour and skill shape identity. How my ancestors were in many ways more advanced than the society I live in today. A kind of ancient futurism.