Scanner - Forces, Reactions, Deflections (2025)

Elated to welcome one of the most enduringly creative and boundary-pushing artists of the last few decades to quiet details, Robin Rimbaud, otherwise known as Scanner.

A towering figure in the worlds of music, sonic and visual art, dance, installation and a myriad of other disciplines - Robin has covered a huge amount of artistic ground since his earliest forays into our consciousness in 1991.

From countless albums and projects as a solo artist and in many collaborations, including the likes of Brian Ferry, Michale Nyman, Steve McQueen, Stella McCartney, Laurie Anderson and Hussein Chalayan, and Pauline Oliveros; to the first Sound Art commission at the Tate Modern London; scoring a dance piece for the UK Olympics; the list of his critically-acclaimed achievements goes on and on.

At the core of his work is always a deep curiosity, the ability to make cognitive leaps into the creative unknown and fashion something beautiful - it’s with this sense of wonder he’s made something truly incredible for quiet details.

The album is a stunning sonic exploration of the world around him, another fundamental element running through his work - realising the majesty contained within structures that has always been there, now brought to life.

As Robin says:

This album is forged entirely from the resonant clangs, echoes, and whispers of a stainless steel staircase at home, transforming everyday architecture into an unexpected orchestra.

By coaxing rhythm, tone, and atmosphere from the metallic body of a staircase, the work reimagines movement between floors as a passage through sound.

No synthesisers were used in the creation, only the natural sound of the staircase using a geophone seismic microphone and the gentle assistance of the occasional resonant filter and sample software.

This has led to an album of enveloping beauty - highly textured drones meet distant pulses; metallic fragments merge with hauntingly evocative melody. Physical architecture translated to harmonic structures in the most breathtaking way imaginable.

There’s so much to admire here - from the beauty of the original recordings to the highest level of craft to turn them into something so musically engaging - a true masterpiece from one of our finest artistic minds.

Huge thanks to Robin for being part of the series.

The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - originating from a photo from Robin which was then captured with analogue photography and processed here at quiet details studios.

As usual, the album is presented on the physical edition, a custom six-panel digipack with a separate fine art print too.

The CD also has a special long-form continuous mix of the album, created by the artist and representing the music in its purest form.