Kreng - Secret Thirteen Mix 038

 Tracklist

Pepijn Caudron/Kreng - režiser apstraktnih zvukovnih filmova. Snovito-teatralnih putovanja u paralelne svjetove atačirane uz svjesna sjećanja.
Ovdje možete čuti njegovu fantastičnu montažu (dugu 38 minuta) sastavljenu od mnoštva ulomaka preuzetih od drugih autora - Krzysztofa Pendereckog, Bernarda Herrmanna, Erika Satiea, Billa Dixona, Johna Cagea, Johna Butcheraa, Giacintoa Scelsija... Nije riječ o pukom miksu, nego o kohezivnom novom djelu.
Još jedan njegov mix: Headphone Commute Mix.

“Secret Thirteen Mix 038” is a painstaking musical montage, made of differently performed diverse solo instruments’ sampled parts. The whole work is filled with compositions of such honorable classical virtuosos as Krzysztof Penderecki, Bernard Herrmann, Erik Satie, Bill Dixon, John Cage, John Butcher, Giacinto Scelsi and others. This enigmatic musical selection has reasonable potential to call itself a timeless masterwork which connects different period and generation talents in the luxurious fictional scene.
The author of the mix is Pepijn Caudron (born in 1975), widely known as Kreng. Caudron is a Flemish actor and contemporary composer who lives and works in Mechelen, Belgium. Kreng started his career as a thoughtfully sample-based project, who incorporated sounds from various rare musical sources: free improvisation, variable electronics, modern classical, folklore, field recordings and others. The project progressively gained more and more theatrical and cinematic musical color and thus it started to receive an attention from alternative film and theater directors. Kreng has worked on more than twenty theater and dance performances, most of them produced by the Belgian non-traditional theatre-commune Abattoir Fermé. Caudron has officially released two full-length striking albums (both formats CD and vinyl) on the honorable Miasmah record label and two digital EPs on short-lived Fant00m imprint. This October he is ready to launch his third album “Works for Abattoir Fermé 2007 – 2011″, which will consist of four vinyls. Listen to the album teaser here.
“Secret Thirteen Mix 038” is a grandiose musical collection, consisting of thirty four accurately cut and edited records. Skillfully merged and smoothly developed instrumental installation creates an absolute solid feeling for the listener. Deliberate layering of strings, keyboards, percussion and wind instruments is equivalent to the professional live performance of the whole ensemble. Occasionally emerging significant spoken-words in the fragile background enrich the musical ideology in the dramaturgical perspective. Sometimes appearing subtle dissonance mystifies the whole work and evokes controversial depressive and nostalgic feelings. In some ways it is an example of Kreng’s personal creations where he uses micro-scale samples, only this time it can be called a macro-scale. High-quality cathedral sounding experience with all of its subtle balanced emotional vision and arrangement fully educates the listening audience.
“Secret Thirteen Mix 038” is like a genuine and humanistic Jean Dubuffet ‘low art’ painting “Grand Jazz Band” where beauty of truthfulness expresses personalities and their musical instruments as equally important. Caudron definitely revealed himself as a passionate and educated collector of records who has an extensive musical philosophy and a talent which is needed for being a major composer. - secretthirteen.org/
More about Krenhttp://secretthirteen.org/secret-thirteen-mix-038-kreng/g:
Facebook – Abattoir Fermé Website

 
 
 

Kreng, Box Set (Works for Abattoir Fermé 2007 - 2011)

Over 3 hours of immersive Lynchian theatre music in a deluxe vinyl box set. Comes with full color printed inner sleeves + Download Code redeemable from the label, box has a gorgeous silver foil embossed print* Our affection for Pepijn Caudron's ghoulishly absorbing music as Kreng is no secret - 2009's L'Autopsie Phenomenale De Dieu and last year's Grimoire both made a big impression on us. But those two records, it turns out, are the tip of a particularly chilling iceberg: as a long-time member of renowned theatre troupe Abattoir Ferme, he's been crafting suitably arcane ambiences and gothic overtures for their theatre performances for several years now. Finally, the best of these works from 2007-2011 are being collected by Miasmah across four LPs, compiled here in one box set, and it's a hugely engrossing, occasionally disturbing haul indeed. 'Monkey' is particularly potent, with two movements that ratchet up the tension before exploding: Part 1's oppressive dronescape is gradually carved up to shreds by military-processional snare rolls, and part 2's bleak industrial drift breaks out into a totally unexpected bout of EBM-techno. 'Tourniquet' showcases a more genteel, classically informed side of Caudron's sound, with the influence of Badalamenti and Ligeti alike looming large, while the awesome 'Snuff', is perhaps the piece here most reminiscent of the previous Miasmah albums - a veritable symphony of undead marching band themes, swelling Caretaker strings and blood-curdling foley effects right out of the Berberian Sound Studio. Part 1 of 'Mythobarbital' is masterful, literally begging to soundtrack some impossibly stylish, ultraviolent modern-day giallo, while the distant vocal phantoms and sparse, skeletal drum hits of Part 2 make us think of Lustmord, Aphex's SAW II and even Raime. A magnificent set.- boomkat

 

Mythobarbital (Works for Abattoir Fermé 2007 - 2011)

Our affection for Pepijn Caudron's ghoulishly absorbing music as Kreng is no secret - 2009's L'Autopsie Phenomenale De Dieu and last year's Grimoire both made a big impression on us. But those two records, it turns out, are the tip of a particularly chilling iceberg: as a long-time member of renowned theatre troupe Abattoir Ferme, he's been crafting suitably arcane ambiences and gothic overtures for their theatre performances for several years now. Finally, the best of these works from 2007-2011 are being collected by Miasmah across four LPs, compiled here in one box set, and it's a hugely engrossing, occasionally disturbing haul indeed. 'Monkey' is particularly potent, with two movements that ratchet up the tension before exploding: Part 1's oppressive dronescape is gradually carved up to shreds by military-processional snare rolls, and part 2's bleak industrial drift breaks out into a totally unexpected bout of EBM-techno. 'Tourniquet' showcases a more genteel, classically informed side of Caudron's sound, with the influence of Badalamenti and Ligeti alike looming large, while the awesome 'Snuff', is perhaps the piece here most reminiscent of the previous Miasmah albums - a veritable symphony of undead marching band themes, swelling Caretaker strings and blood-curdling foley effects right out of the Berberian Sound Studio. Part 1 of 'Mythobarbital' is masterful, literally begging to soundtrack some impossibly stylish, ultraviolent modern-day giallo, while the distant vocal phantoms and sparse, skeletal drum hits of Part 2 make us think of Lustmord, Aphex's SAW II and even Raime. A magnificent set. - boomkat

Originally planned as a well-made play about swinging (or partner swapping), Abattoir Fermé’s ‘Mythobarbita’l gradually developped into something quite different. During the course of its rehearsal period in early 2008, all text was swept aside and the company set out to create a wordless and highly visual phantasmagoria, featuring three characters - or rather: ghosts of what once may have been real people - who find themselves so bored with daily routine that their only way out seems to be an escape into a fairytale world.
‘Mythobarbital’ is thus, after ‘Moe maar op en dolend’ (2005) and ‘Tourniquet’ (2007), the third in a series of silent productions in which Abattoir Fermé creates a visual narrative, supported by a strong soundtrack created by Kreng. Combining a love for things like shadowy netherworlds, semireligious extacy and kinky role plays, ‘Mythobarbital’  - a combination of myths and barbiturates -  is a visual journey through the dark fantasies of long-lost Titans.
Since 2008, the creation has toured throughout Europe and remains on the company’s repertoire.

Snuff (Works for Abattoir Fermé 2007 - 2011)

Pulled from the epic box set ‘Works for Abbatoir Ferme 2007-20011’, the opening twenty-five minutes of ‘Snuff’ finds shadowy Belgian chap Kreng on marvelously dramatic form. Those familiar with his incredible duo of albums (also on Miasmah) will probably already be aware that his music usually hovers between low frequency ambience (think Deathprod or Thomas Koner) and more soundtrack indebted pieces, constructed laboriously with a patchwork of samples. And while it cranks into gear with a flurry of strings, rolling percussion and scratching noise, the album shifts half-way through to allow for a deft side-long exploration into expertly punctuated, menacing ambience. It should hardly be surprising to find out that these pieces were initially composed for experimental theatre group Abbatoir Ferme (which Kreng is a part of), and while segments of these recordings have been pulled and utilized on his other albums, it’s a rare pleasure to hear them in their completed form. The sheer pacing alone is such an important part of listening – rather than hearing four or five minutes, you get a full exposure to these dangerously grim explorations and can be wholeheartedly dragged into Kreng’s world. There are few practitioners who possess Kreng’s skill with his chosen palette, and this collection should set him solidly among the greats. Highly recommended! - boomkat


 Carried by home composer Kreng’s impressive soundtrack and using an a-typical economy in sets and props and, ‘Snuff’ immerses the spectactor into a highly stylized universe of murder and hidden passions. It is a wordless, kaleidoscopic ritual dealing with death and murder throughout cultural history; using cinematographic images, balancing on the border between high art and kitsch and gradually unfolding into, one of Abattoir’s darkest performances yet.
‘Snuff’ is the first instalment of Abattoir Fermé’s INDEX-trilogy and will be followed by ‘Phantasmapolis’ (2010) and ‘Arcanum’ (2011).

 

Tourniquet (Works for Abattoir Fermé 2007 - 2011)

Focusing on the doom-laden, minimalist side of Kreng’s production ‘Tournequet’ is maybe our absolute favourite of the records culled from epic boxset ‘Works for Abbatoir Ferme 2007-2011’. Still imbued with the ominous soundtrack quality that haunts all of his productions, we find Kreng on a much subtler trip here as he experiments with deliriously slow strings and subwoofer churning basses. It almost sounds like being trapped for an eternity inside of David Lynch’s dream/nightmare world of Mulholland Drive – dangerously stifling and absolutely enveloping all at once. At near twenty five minutes a side it feels like a gift that we finally get to hear these pieces in their full, finished glory, and given time to evolve the full scope of Kreng’s composition can be heard for the first time. The first part is a masterclass in restraint and dread, operating in near silence for almost the entire first half before erupting in a molasses-slow crescendo of cracked strings. Even more low-end heavy the flip is almost histrionic in comparison, but still its finest moments are in the almost silent, heaving segments where you feel anything could crawl around the corner at any time. This is expertly produced music, and some of the best the whole doom/drone scene has coughed from its blackened lungs so far – do not miss! - boomkat

In ‘Tourniquet’, Abattoir Fermé continues on its path of silent and filmlike theatre and makes its most visual work to date. The piece suggests the history and contours of a house and its three ‘ghosts’ - with Kreng’s intriguing soundscore as an invisible fourth character. ‘Tourniquet’ is a production without spoken words, focussing upon the ideas of rituals and trance and influenced by modern day exorcisms.

 

 Kreng, Grimoire (2011)

Having first entered our lives in 2009 with an album so singularly terrifying that it still gives us nightmares, Pepijn Caudron - the elusive mastermind behind Kreng - plunges even deeper into the heart of darkness with a new full-length offering for Miasmah. The results are just phenomenal, combining a palpably European antique grandeur with cutting edge sound design and a pervasive occult charge (a 'grimoire' is a book of spells, don'tcha know). 'Karcist' is the curtain-raiser, wherein ambiguous midnight ambience soon gives way to hands-around-the-throat dread; 'Le Bateleur' is a zombie waltz of baleful clarinet, muted horns and snares flapping like bat's wings. On 'Opkropper', Kreng's neo-classical ambitions swell to the fore, plangent cello lavishly swelling amid Ligeti-style piano jabs and snatches of soprano opera singing that sound like Edith Piaf trapped down a well. 'Petit Grimoire' is the album's seductive highlight, impish strings hanging off a muffled techno pulse, and 'Wrak' is a veritable symphony of things that go bump in the night: shrill violins and discordant woodwind scrapping and scraping over a steadily iterated, Morricone-esque motif. The stately orchestral vibe returns for 'Ballet Van De Bloedhoeren' only to dissolve into a fetid swamp of the sickest drone; 'Girl In A Fishtank' sounds like one of Leyland Kirby and Philip Jeck's clammiest nightmares, a real Death In Venice dirge, its 1920s pomp racked by the threat of cholera, drowning, forbidden lust and war. 'La Poule Noire is a grimm tale with an almost industrial momentum, its reverbed percussion rolling horribly, unstoppably onwards like a steam train to the death factory. Has gothic minimalism ever sounded this vivid, this all-consuming and three-dimensional? Not to our knowledge.- boomkat

Listening to the music of Pepijn Caudron can be a bit discomforting. The story of Grimoire begins with an echo of a poignant voice, a rasping breath, a howling bass, nails clinging to a metal stool, darkness enveloping the heart, “Can you hear me? You died. Do you remember that? Don’t be afraid. Let go of the earth. You understand? You don’t belong here.”
Kreng‘s latest collection of sonic spells and aural curses tightens around the breath and slides down the stairs of moaning woodwinds, screeching strings, and menacing percussion. Darker than the dismal night spent in an abandoned cell for unsound souls and lost minds, Grimoire is a chilling score for the fever in your brain.

“Grimoires are books of magic, the most important of which has a stranglehold on cultures both ancient and more recently than most people probably care to realize. These books have slipped into folklore and legend, and like those faded pages of incantations there is something deeply mystical and indescribable about Kreng’s music.“

As I listen to Grimoire, the film behind my closed eyelids is black and white, an eerie suspense sketch made in the early 20s – antique, occult, and avant-garde. The Belgian artist remains mysterious. Little is known about his work besides the 2009 release on Miasmah, titled L’Atopsie Phenomenale De Dieu. What I was able to dig up is that Caudron is a member of an artistic team at Abattoir Ferme, a Belgian theater company, responsible for productions such as Phantasmapolis, Mythobarbital, and Tourniquet – a macabre collection of ‘speechless performances’. - reviews.headphonecommute.com/

  

Kreng, L'Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu (2009)

Shrouded in the mystery and the opaque, otherworldly quality we've come to expect from the consistently remarkable Miasmah imprint, this beguiling debut album has been wrecking our collective heads here in the office for some time. Pieced together from a plethora of unidentified samples, field recordings and found sounds, Kreng taps into a unique, almost indescribable corner of the musical universe that originates from, and proceeds to completely re-imagine, the world of music for film and theatre. The eleven pieces here were, indeed, originally made for a variety of theatre productions and retain that illusory quality that's so often associated with arts-based music, but without any of the site-specific pretension or impenetrability that you'd think goes hand hand in with this kind of material. There's an intensely overbearing darkness to this work, covered by a dense thicket of layered drones and fuzzy sound recordings, but as each piece progresses narrow cracks begin to emerge, letting in shards of colour and light painted through fragments of jazz and classical music re-painted in shimmering, luxurious colours. It's very hard to think of any singular points of reference, but there are elements here that remind us of György Ligeti, Cliff Martinez, Moondog, Arvo Pärt, Arthur Lipsett, Deathprod, Bernard Herrmann and Dictaphone - while really sounding very little like any of them. "L'Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu" is an incredible, utterly mesmerising collection of pieces that we have little doubt will entice, seduce and terrify you in equal measure and, needless to say, comes to you with our highest possible recommendation. ESSENTIAL PURCHASE. - boomkat

Abattoir Fermé - About “Monkey” (2011)

For its new piece ‘Monkey’, Abattoir Fermé finds inspiration in two legendary tales of debauchery. In the 17th century, John Wilmot assembled the so called Merry Gang, a bunch of artists and noblemen from the court of Charles II, to keep him company when going down the drain. In the 1940’s, Erroll Flynn, W.C. Fields, John Barrymore and other Hollywood stars styled themselves the Bundy Drive Boys, when going out on the rampage together.
Booze and sex, public provocation, pranks and practical jokes, theatrical pose, misanthrope humour, transgression and self destruction,.. are all recurrent themes with both outfits.
For Abattoir Fermé the misadventures of these two clubs formed only a starting point, from which the company drew a portrait of a new group of characters who find themselves in a permanent state of “in extremis”, somewhere on a distant and lonely planet, ugly, grotesque and without mercy.
After ‘Tourniquet’, ‘Mythobarbital’ and ‘Snuff’, Abattoir Fermé’s ‘Monkey is once again a performance without text.

 

 

 

Pepijn Caudron, known as Kreng, is a sound explorer and director of impressive audio movies from Belgium. Thus, no wonder, his works are hard to define and not restricted to music as he collaborates with theatre group Abattoir Ferme and other directors and performers.
Kreng music is the dark and abstract excursion to unknown sonic worlds, unexplored corners of consciousness, memories; it is full of theatrical, dynamic impulses and emotions. He constructs his intriguing sound narratives by employing audio collages, samples from various sources (free jazz recordings, contemporary classical pieces). As it was clearly shown in his recent S13 mix, his influences are vast, ranging from John Cage to Brian Eno. We might imagine Kreng not as a musician, but as a director: his compositions resemble abstract sonic movies and the final result relates to avantgarde cinema in terms of structure.
Here Pepijn allows us to take a glimpse in the backstage of his interesting art.
Kreng’s new release “Works for Abattoir Ferme 2007-2011″ is out next week on Miasmah.
Do you construct your music by trying to channel certain emotions or by employing more technical/architectural/experimental focus? What is more important to you – structure or emotion? And what kind of emotions do you try to convey?
A lot depends on what the actual purpose of the music is. Music that needs to be purely functional (music that needs to enhance the atmosphere of an actual setting) is not supposed to be about structure. I simply follow the visual & emotional structure of a scene. When it comes to music being autonomous (music that is intended to be listened to as a thing in itself), structure becomes a vital ingredient of the composition. For example: the 10″ “Monster” is not concerned about pleasing the listener. It’s all about enhancing the visuals for which it was made. The good thing is that it forces me to think about structure in a different way. Sometimes the visual cut comes in at a very unpleasant moment (music-wise) and that way I am forced to abort certain melodic lines or structures I had in mind. The unpredictability of a montage makes my music go into very unexpected directions. I like that kind of exercise.
When I am composing music that is supposed to be autonomous, I work in another mindframe. It’s hard to explain how this works. Words like ‘structure’ and ‘emotion’ seem to merge in a way that is not conscious. I just keep working on a piece until it feels right. Or wrong.
In your music various different sounds are heard ranging from neoclassical composition to avantgarde, from dark drone soundscapes to jazz elements. What do you think unites those elements in your music? The history behind them, their actual sound,
their concept, structure?
I have no idea. These are the sounds I have been listening to for as long as I can remember, It was always John Zorn, John Cage, Duke Ellington, Diamanda Galas, Yma Sumac, Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Ennio Morricone, Bernard Herrmann, Coil, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Scorn, Aphex Twin, Autechre, J.S. Bach, Danny Elfman, Alan Lomax, DJ Shadow, John Barry, Godflesh, DJ Vadim, Tortoise, Jerry Goldsmith, Billie Holiday, Amon Tobin, Dmitri Shostakovich, Throbbing Gristle, Pan Sonic, Kevin Martin, Brian Eno, Morton Feldman, Charles Mingus, Art Blakey, Max Steiner, Thomas Newman, Mike Patton, etc… I have no idea what unites them, but I think it has something to do with shying away from doing what is expectable. Reaching for something that is unknown to mankind, taking a risk and putting your vulnerable self out there.

How do you write your compositions? Do you use sheets of paper or compose everything electronically?
I do not use sheets and I do not compose electronically. Mostly it depends on what I am looking for: a certain scene needs a certain atmosphere. The first thing I do when I start working on a score is ‘the casting’: choosing the right instrumentation in terms of colour, atmosphere, timbre, cultural reference and history. I scan my records, looking for the right musicians, composers & recording methods. That’s the most important job. When that is done I start building a sample-library. From this point it becomes a very time-consuming job: trial and error, hit and miss. I listen to combinations of sounds (for a very long time) to see if they work together. They might not make any sense at first listen, but sometimes it helps listening to two very non-corresponding loops for more than 2 minutes. Your brain starts to hear connections between the sounds and before you realize it, there is a symphony unfolding in front of your ears. I consider it as a privilege to observe the chaos and organize it into something that becomes listenable…
In Kreng music we hear instruments and moods mostly encountered in theatre. Listeners and viewers can easily identify this music as music written for play or performance. What do you think, why are such combinations of instruments used in theatre?
Hmm… It’s interesting that you’re asking me this, because they are not… Most ‘contemporary’ scores for theatre are electronic-based-laptop-soundscapes. They have a tendency of being quite pretentious and arty.
I use a lot of ‘classical’ instrumentation: strings, piano, vocalisations… I am doing this because I am an avid soundtrack-buff. I love the way music (and sound) is deployed in cinema, because this is, according to me, the place where it works best. I kind of like to think about myself as someone who is working within this tradition. Soundtracks are composed to enhance the storytelling, whereas music for staged art always has a tendency of being ‘inventive’, which is not relevant to me. When composing for theatre I do not consider myself to be an artist in my own right, I rather play the part of being a humble servant to the story and the atmosphere.
What it is like to create music for Abattoir Fermé? Can you find there any identity with your personality and their creations? What work of Abattoir Fermé has inspired you the most and why?
The most rewarding thing of working with these guys is the inspiration I get from their creations. Writing music for a performance is very different from sitting at home and trying to come up with something out of nowhere. I am given a certain atmosphere, characters, development, storyline, timeframe. For me it is about creating an environment for the actors and the audience. It is not about psychology or analysis. The sound and the imagery have to create a certain universe in which they can experience their horror. This means that I hardly ever try to illustrate the psychological state of the protagonist, I think it’s a lot more rewarding to create an environment. The audience will identify with the actors, but it is the environment that will scare them. This is a good thing because it allows me to work with the spectators on a subconscious level. Most of the time the audience is focused on the actions being performed on stage, so all the other parameters of theatre (lights, sound, staging, etc.) can crawl under their skin unnoticed, like a slow-spreading poison. I want the music to be purely functional on an immersive and subconscious level.
Lately you have been involved in some collaborative projects with various members of Belgian musical underground. What can you tell us about this experience and the Belgian musical underground itself?
There is not much to say. I know that Belgium has a thriving underground-scene, but I hardly have any contact with it. There’s Eric Thielemans, a percussionist, but I consider him more to be a shaman. We have been trying to set up a full blown collaboration for a long time now, but our schedules never seem to be able to make it work. Then there’s also Bram Bosteels (Kaboom Karavan), he was in my live-band when I was touring my Arcanum-live-set. We’re good friends and I really value his opinions about my work. There’s no doubt that we will eventually work together again.

What is your religion? What do you believe in? What, in your opinion, is the reason of birth existence and death? Even though the questions might provoke metaphysical, scattered thoughts, we still want your opinion.
I am a bit reluctant in answering these kind of questions because I don’t like to be pinned down on having a certain look at how we should live our lives. To tell you the truth: I don’t know. I’m 37 years old and there has never been a constant idea about religion in my life. I think that this ‘searching for the truth’ is kind of a religion in itself. We all know that there is no truth to be found, but I do believe in the universal character of certain feelings: Love, Loss, Friendship, Fear, Greed, Lust, Excitement, Pain, Joy, etc… These are religious signifiers to me. By analyzing them, an individual should be able to make a distinction between right and wrong. Some of us manage to live their lives according to what they have learned along the way. I don’t know if I am one of them, but I am trying…
In your social page you left comment “50 seconds of hardcore truth” under the excerpt of Jodorowsky interview about violence. Could you elaborate on your own ideology regarding violence (in general, violence in your art, as influence, in your life)?
What can I say? I love Jodorowsky’s work, and I adore the fact that he is so decisive. Violence is an endless inspiration. It shows mankind beyond indoctrination. It brings us back to our primal self and it creates an intriguing insight in how we are designed. Man has a dark side, and I consider it to be of utter importance that you face this dark side. If you accept it you will be able to become a better person. It is a blast to enjoy life side by side with your demons and your fears. - secretthirteen.org/

Interview with Kreng

Your first album, L’Autopsie Phénoménale De Dieu, seemed to surface out of nowhere. Yet from its production quality I can tell that you have been recording for quiet some time now. What made you to make the move from arranging music for theater to a solo debut album?
I’ve been listening to too much music in a manner that is way too intense for anyone to cope with… always on the look-out for samples… the good sounds… the right feel…. It forces you to listen to too much material, certainly in these times….. When I compared my work to most of the things that get released these days I figured it wouldn’t be right not to have my work out there.
How did you end up getting signed to Miasmah?
I was looking for a label that would provide a nice context for this sound. I approached John Twells (Type Records) but he passed my demo on to Erik Skodvin (Thank God!). Erik and I met up, had a couple of drinks, a nice night out, some good food & a decent talk about ‘directions’. ‘L’autopsie’ was finished two weeks later.
Tell us a bout Grimoire. How different is the composition process for this sophomore release from your first?
The first album was basically a compilation of scores that I made for various theatre productions. ‘Grimoire’ was intended as a proper album. This is a completely different way of writing. I had no images to start from… just the music…. Actually, it make the whole process a bit harder. Images provide a starting point. They can really inspire sound. For ‘Grimoire’ I started from a blank page… liberating experience… but not easy…. On the other hand, I do realize that this is the way most composers work. I’m a happy man to be working with Abattoir Ferme (our theatre company), because they provide me with a never-ending stream of impulses that trigger inspiration.
What prompted you to explore the theme of these books of magic?
These themes (the occult, the dark side of man, the underbelly of society, outsider arts, underground communities, etc…) are typical topics in the works of Abattoir Ferme. I’ve been working with these topics for ten years an I’m afraid they have entered every molecule of my creative work. They also provide a bottomless pit of inspiration to draw from. I was looking for something that could provide me with a theme for an album. I like the idea that ‘albums’ should be taken as a whole. Grimoires seemed like a nice metaphor to me for what ‘an album’ should be like…. something to read from start to finish… something to be inspired by… something that is able to trigger someone’s potential….
Who is the protagonist of this album and what is his/her story?
Sorry to disappoint you, but there’s no great story to be found here. The protagonist is the listener and he has to make his own story while listening to this music. Every individual has enough reference to relate to this music. There’s no absolute truth to be found here… there’s just you… the listener… it’s your world… these are your fantasies… your fears….
Can you reveal the mysterious source of some of these recordings?
No, I can’t… I’m afraid they’ll find me.
Tell us about your work for Abattoir Ferme.
It’s a theatre company based in Mechelen, Belgium. We’ve been working for 12 years now. It’s a tight unit that specializes in creating a world of dark, moody, gritty atmospheres. Some of the plays feature no words at all (which gives plenty of room for the soundtracks). People who saw our performances can be divided in lovers and haters… I’m afraid there’s no in-between…. check out where you stand at abattoirferme.be - reviews.headphonecommute.com/