Un coup de dés: New album on Sanntidsmusikk
A new release on the label Sanntidsmusikk includes three works for melodica and modular synthesizer: Toile d'araignée, Un coup de dés, and Blaker Skanse.
Toile d'araignée is a fast paced miniature. The sounds come from a chaotic feedback patch on a modular synthesizer. The title alludes to the cobweb diagrams used to visualise the dynamics of chaotic systems.
According to Mallarmés phrase, un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hazard, a single throw of the die never abolishes chance, but how about rolling the die some hundred times? Un coup de dés is a series of 15 variations on a random theme, literally created by throwing a twelve-sided die over a hundred times and translating the numbers to pitch classes. Some variations just play through the theme in different pitch ranges, tempi, and timbral articulations. The first variation is a duet on melodica with occasional siren interruptions. Variations II – XIV are performed on modular synthesizer, mostly recorded on four-track porta studio and subsequently digitally edited. In the last variation the instrumentation includes real and synthesised singing, granulated guitar, a frame drum, and an analogue synthesizer. As the theme is incessantly repeated through its various guises, the apparent randomness gives way to a sense of purposiveness.
Blaker Skanse is a piece of music theatre or a performance named after the location where it was premièred in 2017. This recording was made outdoors in Halden, September 2021 with the assistance of the organisers and participants in an exhibition. Blaker Skanse begins with an extremely slow theme played on melodica constructed around a three note motive. The theme is interrupted a few times by assistants in the audience. A short maracas interlude (with the instruction to wear a hat) marks the transition to the second half of the piece which explores rhythmically articulated clusters and chords.
The album is available as digital download, and will be issued on CD in an edition of 100 copies by early November.
https://sanntidsmusikk.bandcamp.com/album/un-coup-de-d-s
