MATHIAS
DELPLANQUE – le pavillion témoin
(CD, low
impedance)
Somebody once said: if you have one riddle to solve,
you will end up with two more. So, thinking in the other direction, maybe if
you chose to build two riddles, you might end up with one solved?
The world that Mathias Delplanque builds on “le
pavillion témoin” (The Show House, transl.) is filled with enigma.
First off, this is far from being unpleasant music. The instruments are
finely tuned to each other, structures flow in and out as if from nowhere,
the mix of electronics and analogue instruments is intriguing and sometimes
the whole piece sets into a nice shuffle that is harmonious and warm, while
at other places time seems to stand still while some sounds seem to hang in
the air all by themselves. There are harmonicas, accordions, cellos, guitars
and what else. But if you get beyond the point of music that runs by itself
in the background while you ease yourself onto your lazychair with probably
the latest novel by Paul Auster or Philip Roth, there are questions coming
up that can not easily be answered.
What do those children’s samples mean? Why the
creaking floorboards and the tuned down vocals? The constant hissing in the
background seems to get stronger, does that mean something is arriving?
Okay, so judging from the song titles the idea is to walk around this house,
but why then is there a “secret diary” attached? Can it really be spring
on the moon? Why the melancholy? Does a house tell a story and is there a
literary side to architecture and how would it connect to compositional art?
Question do not always mean danger or evil, this is
only something our culture has brought us to believe. If there are
unanswered mysteries in a move or a book, then, by the ruling codes of
literature, has to be some kind of tension, and tension is most easily
produced by making us fear that something bad might happen. But it is only
in the mind. For instance, science would be nothing without scientists
asking questions. Art would be nothing without artists asking questions.
Maybe there is finally a good way to draw the line between mainstream
cultural products like a Hollywood movie or a major label music album and a
product with a distinctly alternative approach: if it is asking questions
without inducing fear into the recipient, then it is on the good side of all
things. Well, it is just a quick theory that came to my mind.
Sometimes during “le pavillion témoine” it is
obvious to hear Delplanques’ history in dub music, though it only shimmers
through the abstract soundscapes. Actually, I wonder if he has a history or
experience in writing novels, some kind of ghost stories or set pieces that
make the reader wonder about his own outlook into live. A story, where the
more you get inside the characters and the places the more you get lost in
the invisible web that has been spun between them and that you cannot figure
out. Back to the music here, this web consists of various conflicting parts
of music, like melody and static or like beats that slowly shake and noise
that intrudes and destroys, but somehow magically forms a whole that is
polished, has a shiny surface and looks compact and strong. I think this
enigma can only be solved by not fearing, by not trying to solve it and, if
all else fails, just try whistling.
