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RUHLMANN, MATHIEU - Fourteen Worms for Victor Hugo

Format: CD-R
Label & Cat.Number: Gears of Sand [GOS46]
Release Year: 2008
Note: professionally printed CDR release, full colour cover & labels, ed. of 100 copies only
Price (incl. 19% VAT): €12.00
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Das geheime Leben der Steine! Der Kanadier MATHIEU RUHLMANN wieder auf traumwandlerischen Pfaden, inspiriert von Reinkarnationsglauben VICTOR HUGOs, nach dem auch Steine & Felsen, Pflanzen, und Insekten beseelt sind, es also qualitativ eigentlich keinen Unterschied zum Menschen gibt. Dementsprechende Objektsounds & Feldaufnahmen benutzt er auf "Fourteen Worms" für seine dronigen, ausgesprochen poetischen Meditationen, die tief ins mögliche "Unbekannte" menschlicher Erkenntnistätigkeit dringen...

"A truly epic release from the well known sound sculptor, Mathieu Ruhlmann. Here are some of the artist's reflections on the work:
"Victor Hugo and his writings played a massive part for the inspiration for the release. The focal point of the inspiration pertaining to Victor Hugo were some séances he took part of while he was in exile. He was devastated by the death of his daughter who drowned in the Seine and wanted to find a way to communicate with her. During these séances he supposively received communication with such strange things/people as the Ocean, Stars, Jesus and Plato. The messages he received were so strange and poetic. He claims to have received messages from the other side of life. One that stood out to me was that there are four levels of re-incarnation based on how you lived your life. If you lived a terrible life you would come back as a stone/pebble and then next step plant then animal/insect and if you lived a good life you would come back as a human again. If this is true or not doesn't really interested me what struck me was this idea/concept that life would be involved in everything. I was/am really intrigued with this idea that rocks,plants,stones hold this history of life in them and by working with these objects you can extract this sonically."
* * *
"Also, something I read from Victor Hugo was this idea that has always been a constant in my work that most poets talk about love, flowers and such Victor Hugo to me spoke of a love with the thistles, flies, fleas, mites and worms. Also, a quote of Victor Hugo that sort of tied in to the concept is 'From the worms eye you see the grave."
* * *
"So with this release I wanted to work with this concept of recordings the insects and natural elements and trying to bring forth this sort of regeneration and journey. There is quite a number of other ideas that have played a part in this release. Again, hopefully I was able to present this clearly. Taking these ideas from a number of different thoughts and ideas and bringing them into this piece it seemed to all fit together I hope this explaination does." [label info]

"In 1853 while in exile Victor Hugo began conducting seances, as a way to communicate with his daughter who had drowned in the Seine." He spoke to various person, including Jesus and also got the message from across that afterlife was a return to Earth in four states depending on how you conducted your life. You could be a stone/pebble, a step plant, animal/insect or as a human - of course the better you lived, you would be a human. So Ruhlmann works here with worms, flies, moths, beetles, crickets, wasps, stones, water kettle, children's toys. tin can, sagebrush prayer bowl and piano. Which is interesting if you keep the Hugo thing in mind. Produce sound with these stones which might be some bad person from another life. An interesting point to start I should think. Not fourteen but seven tracks here with music that is made of all these objects, recorded with microphones and contact microphones. It starts out with soft rumble, stones being rubbed, but as the music progresses, it seems that Ruhlmann also added some other sound material, including field recordings and/or computer processing. Together these field recordings and rumbling of acoustic objects make a very intense piece of music. Intense yet atmospheric. Kinda like Jeph Jerman, but then with more electronics. Very nicely woven music." [FdW, Vital Weekly]

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