{"id":10701,"date":"2021-02-09T10:06:48","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T09:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/?p=10701"},"modified":"2021-02-09T10:06:50","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T09:06:50","slug":"submerge-emerge-reviewed-by-vital-weekly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/?p=10701","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Submerge-Emerge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reviewed by Vital Weekly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jos Smolders was inspired to write \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Submerge- Emerge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by a teenage encounter with an 1897 poem called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Un Coup de des Jamais N\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Abolira le Hasard\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Stephane Mallarme. As art tends to do when a receptive kid encounters it for the first time, the poem stuck with Smolders for decades afterwards. He continued to think about it, wrestling with the poem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meaning and the effect that it had on him. In 2016, he decided to write a piece of music based on the poem. Now, writing experimental-type music based on a poem is, generally speaking, a silly thing to do. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve no doubt heard endless academic pretentious tape-and-voice nonsense music based on poems. Smolders, though, has long used language as inspiration for his music, and always with a uniquely personal perspective. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a thoughtful enough composer to not fall into any clich\u00c3\u00a9 traps. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Submerge – Emerge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, then, is one of the most exciting and beautiful albums of his career, one that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll keep returning to long after this review is written. The album is more about the poem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s themes and ideas than simply a sonic backing to recited text. There are long stretches with no words at all\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 just shimmering pools of synthesizer tones, cavernous drones and field recordings of boats, beaches, and water (an element reflected from the poem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s water imagery). The album is lovely and engaging\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 episodes (labelled as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153interludes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153plates\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, implying parts of a book) seem to comment on one another, working both individually and as a flowing whole. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot to chew on here, whether one traces sonic elements and compositional choices back to Mallarme\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s poem or not. (HS)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

via Vital Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n