objects in mirrorSo this guy, looks, sounds and feels like he is some kind of time traveller. I watched a video of him taken from Dutch TV and he was in some studio, and it was a lovely juxtaposition as they placed him in front of an autobahn in black medieval-esque clothing playing his Renaissance/Baroque Lute, and that’s along with his bowl cut hairdo. He looks, well, authentic and a great bonus is that he sounds good too. The lute is a wonderful instrument, it isn’t as common as the modern or classical guitar, isn’t as twangy as a banjo but has that brighter, higher tone whilst retaining expressiveness. With his Lute Josef creates lovely compositions, some with delightful, catchier melodies, but mostly more minimal and contemporary, quite far away from the spritely lutes of the Renaissance. He also has a bit of a fetish shall we say for recording places and atmospheres. He mainly records airports and train stations, the catalyst for this I think is two things; the amount of traveling he had done between Europe and America, and people talking through his performances at art galleries, Josef said that after he played the recordings he had made whilst playing the Lute people were self conscious and didn’t talk through anymore. One very interesting point to mention is his use of palindromic composition. These are works that are the same backwards and forwards, or mirrored. The interesting thing is trying to hear this though. When I think of Palindromic Compositions I also think of other such technical compositional styles such as Fugue, and I like the idea of these, they are in themselves very intelligent and they require a special kind of creativity. I do think however that through this they kind of lose something, maybe a little continuity or natural flow. From the tracks on Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear I really liked Stichomythy which had more rhythmical progressions and had a slight Eastern vibe to it with pentatonic bells and the constant offbeat, crossover contemporary lute! Listening to Lost in Transit with headphones on I noticed the frequent panning of the airport recording, this was a little disorienting and distorted my perception of what the recording was. I would suggest you try it on headphones if you get the chance.
stations of the crossStations Of The Cross is a more “classically” inspired album, more rhythmical and using the Lute, I guess, more in the way it was intended. I would like to know if the piece I hear is played at one time or overdubbed in sections as I can hear 3, 4 and sometimes 5 different parts at the same time. He still uses the natural recordings he makes at stations, etc. I particularly like the comedy and again juxtaposition near the end of Low Mass the security announcement “for security reasons, please keep your luggage with you at al times, unattended luggage will be destroyed, etc.”. This CD is a lot more relaxing than the other and sometimes quite brow furling, I mean it generates real emotion, I feel the music, it’s kind of dreamy. If I close my eyes I could be in a court in traditional Renaissance dress, although the music is a little more contemporary than it would have been the essence and emotion that the lute projects is similar. One more thing is the song titles, they are at times very descriptive, for example, All Day within the Dreamy House the Doors upon their Hinges Creaked, that instantly sets the scene for the music, we instantly have an image in our head and the music matches up and reinforces that image. Grand Central Confessional is a little more obvious as it’s an outside recording, but the interesting thing is how many religious references are in the titling of the tracks, that is one example, but others include; The Weeping Virgin, Trembles before the Weeping Sun, Low Mass, Smokeless Altar, All the Earth was Black, All Heaven was Blind. This CD is not something I would listen to regularly, but it is a lovely thing to experience and have to turn back to if I require something very light and but also containing substance, another juxtaposition, a subtle selection of songs but when you investigate further, go deeper, we find it to be very fulfilling and revelatory ::
Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear - BVHaast/A-Musik
Stations Of The Cross - Incunabulum/A-Musik
