Gizeh
After a collaboration between guitarist / sound manipulator Jean DL and film-maker Sandrine Verstraete in 2015, Jean called in Canadian cellist Julia Kent to help provide a soundtrack to Sandrine’s latest video installation The Great Lake Swallows. Over a perfectly succinct twenty-six minutes, split into four subtly different tracks, Jean and Julia add aching, gloriously monochromatic textures over Sandrine’s field recordings to create an atmosphere that is in parts melancholy yet vibrant.
The over-riding texture of these pieces is the sweep of the cello soaring mournfully through the first section, with what sounds like wind reassuring in the background, gentle and enticing, drawing us into this living picture, the rising and falling of the cello seeming to track the flight of the birds as they rise and fall across the gently undulating water. We can hear the birds whistle in part two, and here the cello is lower and more circular. Sandrine’s found sounds bring the lake to life and this piece feels somehow a little more intense, the
deeper drone bringing a sense of impending drama.
The third section feels like daybreak. The sounds of insects and other birds travel low across the water, tops of trees shrouded in mist as the sun attempts to break through and illuminate the sleepy mistiness. It is gentler and more scenic, still monochromatic but drawing us further into the story of the relationship that the birds have with this body of water. The background sounds are shrouded and mysterious on the final chapter, the lapping of waves lends a more desolate kind of air and at points
the cello seems to soar and moan, evoking the sound of descent in a way that seems so natural.
I haven’t seen any footage of the installation, but on hearing this, I would love to. It works so well as a wordless story, the cello taking the lead, but surrounded by familiarity in parts and by danger in others. The sense that these birds are predating, albeit only on insects, and the obverse fact that they too could be prey and also be subject to other risks is beautifully explained by the music. Over it all the lake keeps watch, unjudging and unmoved by the drama above.
This type of semi-ambient / modern classical music is exploring so many avenues these days, and The Great Lake Swallows is a gorgeous way of a telling a tale of lives where no words are necessary.
-Mr Olivetti-
After a collaboration between guitarist / sound manipulator Jean DL and film-maker Sandrine Verstraete in 2015, Jean called in Canadian cellist Julia Kent to help provide a soundtrack to Sandrine’s latest video installation The Great Lake Swallows. Over a perfectly succinct twenty-six minutes, split into four subtly different tracks, Jean and Julia add aching, gloriously monochromatic textures over Sandrine’s field recordings to create an atmosphere that is in parts melancholy yet vibrant.
