Unwritten Soundtrack
“Unwritten Soundtrack” is a collaboration between avant electro duo Live Footage and saxophonist Danny Meyer and will be released by the multifarious Ephemeral Arts label on December 6th, 2019. For the past 13 years cellist Topu Lyo and drummer/keyboardist Mike Thies have produced improvisational cinematic mini-soundtracks constructed from loops, samples, tape manipulations and synthesizer treatments that lie somewhere at the crossroads between Eno, Morricone and Carpenter.
The result of this collaboration with multi-disciplinarian artist Meyer (who has contributed musically to such acts as Julia Holter, Chairlift, ExoTech and MGMT) is an expansion on the urbane electro charged atmosphere that the duo has fulfilled in which the saxophone overlays an organicness that simultaneously pays homage to the jazz of a past age with a future that is only just being discovered.
“Broken” kicks off a world where Jack DeJohnette and Coltrane somehow meet in the back alleys of a distant time with a repetitive riff that evolves from the pure and unaffected to reverbed and delayed horns woven through Lyo’s delicately effected strings. “Sea Marsh” references the downiness of Richard Thomas’ work with Cocteau Twins and is equally as majestic as anything yielded from that long ago collaboration. The psychedelic backdrop of “Dramatic Theme” sets the stage for an intoxicated interplay of sax and cello, propped up by a steady beat that seems to orbit from a distance.
“Honshirabe” brings the listener back to earth with their take on a 17th century traditional Japanese shakuhachi theme that comforts yet retains the mystery. The hymn-like “Mantis Love”, delicate improvisation “Pale Blue Dot” and introspective “Slo-Mo Driveby” soothe as strings and horns blend to create an abstract backdrop of sound and colors seemingly wistful and nostalgic. “Slop Clap” occupies a technological soundscape with uneasy rhythms that have an almost dub-like feel while “Tribesman” and “Unwritten Soundtrack” take the listener far from this planet in a cauldron of sound.
The trio manipulates, loops, re-constructs and de-constructs their instruments in uncommon ways and live in a space somewhere between experimental, film music, jazz and modern classical. Start with the soundtracks and create your own vision.
︎︎︎︎︎︎
