{"id":10732,"date":"2021-03-10T10:42:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T09:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/?p=10732"},"modified":"2021-03-09T11:42:52","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T10:42:52","slug":"submerge-emerge-reviewed-by-ambient-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/?p=10732","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Submerge-Emerge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reviewed by Ambient Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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You can trust Dutch electroacoustic composer and sound artist (and mastering engineer) Jos Smolders<\/a><\/em><\/strong> to come up with amazing sounds. After all, he has the experience of experimenting for more than 35 years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c learning to work with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a combination of instinct, talent, skill, and patience\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Submerge-Emerge<\/em><\/strong>, released on\u00c2\u00a0Cr\u00c3\u00b3nica<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0as a 2-CD set and digital download, presents a fascinating otherworldly soundtrack based on\u00c2\u00a0St\u00c3\u00a9phane Mallarm\u00c3\u00a9\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0poem\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Un Coup De Des Jamais N\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Abolira Le Hasard\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/a><\/em>\u00c2\u00a0from 1897 (which translates as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dca roll of the dice will never abolish chance.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122). When he read the poem in his teenage years he was fascinated \u00e2\u20ac\u201c though it was more because of the way it was printed than by the words themselves (check the link above for a preview and translation). Forty years later, around 2016, he explored the poem again and this time it inspired him to create this project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Reading the poem, one gets easily lost. These are no firm and consistent sentences. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a sequence of sentences telling a story, and there is no clearly definable plot.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em>
Some of this also translates to the music. It is presented in sets of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcplates\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> (the poem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s printed pages), divided by an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153interlude\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/em>after every two of them. Fragments of the poem are recited by Valerie Vivancos<\/em> in a beautiful voice that is somewhat alienated by electronic processing. 
Most of the sound is related to water \u00e2\u20ac\u201c combining field recordings of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153harbours, beaches, ships\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 motors, storms, waves breaking on the rocks, the quiet lapping of waves on a small French beach\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em> with the electronics of Smolders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong> modular system. But this does not imply that the result sounds like anything out of this natural world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The central theme of the poem, at least what I got out of it, is that of a creator\/artist (the captain) sailing the endless ocean on his ship. The ocean represents the creative state of mind. Sometimes there are prevailing winds. On other occasions, huge gales toss the ship around with towering waves moving everyone off course, if not sinking the lot. And then there are the doldrums, the parts where, yes, the sea is calm, but there is no wind, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not getting anywhere. Looking back at my own experience as an artist, I have seen all these weather conditions as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took a long time before\u00c2\u00a0Smolders<\/em><\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0understood the poem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intention, and he still doubts if he fully understands it. Likewise, it took him five years to complete the poem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s translation into music.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Five years to record, compile, rethink, leave it alone, get back, reform, cut, add, alter, and finish this beast that at times itself became an ocean of sound and form. It is time to cut the ropes to this vessel and sail on. I hope it inspires, because \u00e2\u20ac\u0153toute pens\u00c3\u00a9e \u00c3\u00a9met un coup de d\u00c3\u00a9s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d !\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0(every thought rolls the dice).
And now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the listener\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s turn to dive in deep, to submerge himself in this impressive set of soundscapes, and to emerge refreshed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and perhaps also puzzled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

via Ambientblog<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n