Thoughts and Other Things: New Music, and Memories of Warm Weather

What does music represent to you? For me, it represents images, doused in past experiences and limitless imagination.

London has been experiencing some amazing weather in the past two weeks. Sunny. Bright. Warm like a winter duvet. Memories of Southern California and of the Mediterranean have been welling up inextricably to mix with this present. Add to that some great music, and everything burgeons more significantly.

Lately I have been listening heavily to John Surman, the fantastically creative British jazz saxophonist. I have not yet listened deeply to his electronic music yet, because I have been listening to Svartisen instead. It was co-written by Italian guitarist Maurizio Brunod and Norweigian bassist Bjorn Alterhaug, with Surman on saxes. I’m entranced by this album, in all the best ways…. The delicate, atmospheric beauty created among the band is absolutely my kind of aesthetic. It is part of what I strive for artistically.

The fjords of Norway never left the ship’s side for twenty days in the summer of 2013.

Cruising out of some Northern Norwegian fjords in July, 2013, at 2am.

“Isen” and “Gaucho” are two pieces from the album that strike deeply at my aesthetic. They are both different, but they relay things musically as a whole to me which go beyond to whelm my emotions. “Isen” is at once tense, dissonant, and surreal—and then it evolves into something bigger. The tension becomes heroic; the dissonance becomes understandable; the surreal turns epic. This piece transports the listener to Svartisen Glacier itself, in a way, with the gigantic echo of the guitar moving impossibly fast and omnipresently through the soundscape.

What would you feel when looking out over something so much more massive than yourself?

From Olden, Norway, and into the fjords. 2013.

A lovely square outside the Old Town of Nice, France. 2018

Palma de Mallorca, 2018.

The album then intsigates a calm shift. “Gaucho” is a total change: contemplative, intimate, acoustic, and delicate in an endearing way. Memories of hot days swam in my mind as I listened to this piece. The sounds of instruments and music we associate ourselves with is always unique to listener. That being said, over the past few years I have developed a kinship with the acoustic guitar, slow tempos, Latin/”world” rhythms, and melodic strength as representations for relaxation; peace; memory; and contemplation of deep things.

It is these two pieces that I listen to the most these days. I makes me think of both the epic and the intimate at once.

John Surman’s playing can be so fierce, yet so intimate, yet so melodic. Furthermore, I am just now diving into electronic music…something which is one of his strengths. New music is always good; yet when it completely agrees with you, there’s a horizon at an infinite distance, and the journey is the best part.

A scene that captures the essence of both “Isen” and “Gaucho:” the ever-stunning view of Nice from Castle Hill.