The well-known slogan "One picture is worth a thousand
words", created by the advertising industry in the early nineteen-twenties
and now a general cultural meme, could equally sensibly be applied to the field
of music. Instrumental music, in particular music generated by electronic
means, has, over the last several decades, become of central importance to
popular culture: you only need to think about Brian Eno's "Music For
Airports", which helped define the genre of "Ambient" music and
create a permanent bond between music and everyday reality. Similarly, the
compositions and music productions by J.Peter Schwalm are testament to the
power of tones without words.
Since 1998
and for six years, Schwalm worked continually with Eno, releasing numerous
joint works, including the album "Drawn From Life" and the soundtrack
to the film "Fear X" by Nicholas Winding Refn, all the while giving
celebrated joint performances in Europe and Japan.
Since 2006,
Schwalm has been repeatedly invited by the Punktfestival in Kristiansand, where
he performed as celebrated live-remixer. As one of the most respected exponents
of this particular art form, he collaborated with several well known music
ensembles, including the Ensemble Modern from Frankfurt.
In 2013, the
London New Music Icebreaker Ensemble commissioned Schwalm to write a piece of
music from material originally composed by Kraftwerk; the resulting
composition, "Kraftwerk Uncovered - A Future Past", was successfully
toured by both in Germany and Ireland.
The new
album by J.Peter Schwalm, The Beauty Of Disaster, continues this tradition, by
exemplifying the suggestive powers of instrumental music, while drawing
inspiration from contemporary images: "I had been deeply impressed by
satellite images of the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico while
composing new pieces for this album. These surprising photos, which so reminded
me of paintings, seemed to embody the very same deep duality between the dark
melancholia they depicted and a continuous, meshed sense of hope, an embedded
ray of light, as did the compositions I was working on." As such, these
compositions of J.Peter Schwalm seek to balance the aesthetics of electronic
with that of orchestral music. His swelling arrangements mark the difference
between opulence (desired) and bombast (to be avoided at all costs), while his
electronic sounds highlight his unique techniques, developed way beyond what is
achievable by regular plug-ins. Many passages are completely devoid of beat, thus
achieving a deep sense of contemplation in music.
"Some
works are based on the principles of "Live Remix" which I developed
during and since my repeated appearances at the Punkt Festival" explains
Schwalm "while others are rooted in the technique of Multi-track composing
I developed." Also, emotional depth is more important than technical
detail:
"While,
for example, Zirkeltrilogie, was created on the basis of a traditional notion
of harmonic resolution, I am less concerned with concepts and more with the
question "How can I best express my inner feelings, my inner
tensions?"" continues Schwalm "If anything, I have focused my
attention primarily on the philosophical notion of attraction towards the
Limitless, towards Change, which has influenced so many writers and composers.
I feel in fact most germane to a thought formulated by the psychologist Robert
A. Johnson: "Death, which awaits us in romantic love, is not destruction
of life, but the blossoming of the inner world".
The
abandonment of speculative noisiness, which thoroughly characterizes Schwalm's
nuanced, atmospheric music, is nonetheless also a conscious choice in
opposition to the spirit of our times: "I find a number of my pieces to be
already quite loud or at least tempestuous" says Schwalm "while
others only reveal their emotional loudness after several listening sessions.
All in all, I compose music with inquisitive posture, and I am not interested
in generating adverse of positive reactions by means of quick, overwhelming
noise."
J.Peter Schwalm,
was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1970, where he conducted his studies in music
and drumming. He founded his first electro-jazz music project 'Slop Shop' in
1993, positioning himself firmly between music genres. A number of maxi-single
releases were followed by the ensemble's first album in 1998, 'Makrodelia',
which eventually reached Brian Eno's hands, leading to an offer of
collaboration. The two met and performed a few months later in the German Hall
for Arts and Exhibitions, together with Kraut-rock legend Holger Czukay. Two
albums and film scores later, the two went their separate ways. In the
following years, Schwalm composed music for the Stuttgarter Ballett, for the
Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield, for London choreographer Hofech Schechter and the
Series "Das Neue Werk" of German radio NDR. Since 2008, Schwalm has
been regularly playing with Norwegian electric guitarist and sound-sculptor
Eivind Aarset and with bassist Tim Harries. In 2013, Schwalm was commissioned
to write and perform a piece by the Deutsches Jazzfestival in Frankfurt.
Schwalm
counts jazz innovator Miles Davis as early significant influence, as well as
film work by Stanley Kubrick: "In a certain way" he laughs gently
"I am still inspired by Bitches Brew. The piece "Himmelfahrt" arose
following similar principles: there is a rhythm, a theme, but rather than
studio improvisations, a large number of live cuts which I injected into the
piece."
Other
pieces, such as "Zirkeltrilogie" or "Endknall" were rather
more influenced by György Ligeti: "Since seeing Lux Aeterna at the age of
15, I became deeply fascinated by his compositions made of tonal
surfaces." It was of course Ligeti's music which significantly contributed
to the metaphysical depth of Stanley Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey.
The Beauty
Of Disaster is J.Peter Schwalm's most personal work to date: Its partly
microscopically developed, partly dynamically driven tonal landscapes absorb
the listener into an unconventionally modern, yet timeless world; His use of
abstract form serves purposes of beauty and elegance, rather than complication,
as he invites the listener into a voyage of discovery of new perspectives
rather than excite her with conundrums. Herein lies the meaning of the pictures
of the Gulf of Mexico described at the beginning of this piece, when the
discovery of a new perspective allows perception of the beauty of disaster.
TRACKS
1. The Anxt
Code
2.
Himmelfahrt
3. The
Beauty of Disaster
4. Numbers
Become Stories
5. Stille,
Blitz und Donner
6.
Zirkeltrilogie
7.
Wunschklangregister
8. The End
and the Beginning
9.
Angstphantasie
10. Endknall