Dreams of the bell tower watchman
Mar 23, 09:34 PM
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"I very carefully listened to scores of recordings before settling on this one and it captured my imagination instantly. It’s incredibly rich and mysterious. What was documented in this field recording transports us, I think, to a place both ancient and instantly present. We hear footfalls climbing rickety stairs. In the distance bells toll. And in the foreground a sonorous voice intones a repeated phrase, mysteriously. It was my clear favourite and I hope we’ve done it justice.
"The recording is from Spain and although Sylvia has visited the country, I have not yet been there myself. We have friends who live in the ancient city of Tarifa and they have often spoken of the magic of this place - particularly the spectacular religious processions and other traditional sacred rituals. The field recording seems to conjure this for us, quite movingly so. I hope my composition and our recording underscores and enhances that sense of mystery, of faith, of ritual.
"There is very little enhancement to this particular field recording aside from looping it and lightly adding reverb in places. We were committed to keeping it out front as the most present piece of sound throughout. Listening repeatedly, I began to compose, beginning with an underscoring on synth - a sine pad in a kind of four-voice drone. Using that as our basic track, I continued with further instrumentation: bass, a kind of twinkling, echoing guitar figure and two further tracks of a deep Moog synth played live through a Vox AC-30 amplifier and a large double-speaker cabinet, both parts rising and falling in swells. At that point I sent the track to Sylvia in France. It was the first time she had heard the field recording and, partly of Spanish extraction herself, she instantly recognized it as being from Spain. She added a whispered echo of that mysterious repeated phrase, just the word “siempre”. Sylvia and I continued by recording wordless vocals in four parts, like a distant choir. Finally, Summer’s voice joins, rising above them. All of the instrumentation and vocals slowly fade up into the mix in support of the field recording itself, in what we hope illustrates this track’s very title - the dream of the trusted watchman of this ancient bell tower.
"There is, we hope, a decidedly spiritual component to our work. And this field recording certainly engaged that part of us. Bipolar Explorer is a project begun and now continued in dedication to our cofounder Summer Serafin who passed away age 31 after a tragic accident in 2011. We often say that our work is of, for and about Summer, which is to say that it finds its inspiration and narrative in dedication but also includes her. Our treasure trove of Summer’s isolated vocals make it possible to fly her in as we build and compose new works. Indeed, you hear her on this very track. I think that great loss brings us to question what we believe - of our lives, of the world, of what may be beyond. It’s a very personal journey but we’re all of us on one and sometimes artistic expression can bring that to bear, bring the disparate together so we don’t feel so alone. Perhaps (and I personally and fervently believe) there’s more to our lives than we can know. Perhaps our lives are more than we can see. Perhaps time is not static. Perhaps in that sense we are forever. These sounds from Spain moved us yet again to compose a piece that we hope reflects that very thing: perhaps we are all forever. Perhaps we get a hint of that in dreams.
Bipolar Explorer is Summer Serafin (vocals, spoken word), Michael Serafin-Wells (guitars, bass, sine pad, Moog synth, tape loops, vocals) and Sylvia Solanas (vocals, spoken word).
Clerecia Towers, Salamanca reimagined by Bipolar Explorer.
———————
This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights.
Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage
"The recording is from Spain and although Sylvia has visited the country, I have not yet been there myself. We have friends who live in the ancient city of Tarifa and they have often spoken of the magic of this place - particularly the spectacular religious processions and other traditional sacred rituals. The field recording seems to conjure this for us, quite movingly so. I hope my composition and our recording underscores and enhances that sense of mystery, of faith, of ritual.
"There is very little enhancement to this particular field recording aside from looping it and lightly adding reverb in places. We were committed to keeping it out front as the most present piece of sound throughout. Listening repeatedly, I began to compose, beginning with an underscoring on synth - a sine pad in a kind of four-voice drone. Using that as our basic track, I continued with further instrumentation: bass, a kind of twinkling, echoing guitar figure and two further tracks of a deep Moog synth played live through a Vox AC-30 amplifier and a large double-speaker cabinet, both parts rising and falling in swells. At that point I sent the track to Sylvia in France. It was the first time she had heard the field recording and, partly of Spanish extraction herself, she instantly recognized it as being from Spain. She added a whispered echo of that mysterious repeated phrase, just the word “siempre”. Sylvia and I continued by recording wordless vocals in four parts, like a distant choir. Finally, Summer’s voice joins, rising above them. All of the instrumentation and vocals slowly fade up into the mix in support of the field recording itself, in what we hope illustrates this track’s very title - the dream of the trusted watchman of this ancient bell tower.
"There is, we hope, a decidedly spiritual component to our work. And this field recording certainly engaged that part of us. Bipolar Explorer is a project begun and now continued in dedication to our cofounder Summer Serafin who passed away age 31 after a tragic accident in 2011. We often say that our work is of, for and about Summer, which is to say that it finds its inspiration and narrative in dedication but also includes her. Our treasure trove of Summer’s isolated vocals make it possible to fly her in as we build and compose new works. Indeed, you hear her on this very track. I think that great loss brings us to question what we believe - of our lives, of the world, of what may be beyond. It’s a very personal journey but we’re all of us on one and sometimes artistic expression can bring that to bear, bring the disparate together so we don’t feel so alone. Perhaps (and I personally and fervently believe) there’s more to our lives than we can know. Perhaps our lives are more than we can see. Perhaps time is not static. Perhaps in that sense we are forever. These sounds from Spain moved us yet again to compose a piece that we hope reflects that very thing: perhaps we are all forever. Perhaps we get a hint of that in dreams.
Bipolar Explorer is Summer Serafin (vocals, spoken word), Michael Serafin-Wells (guitars, bass, sine pad, Moog synth, tape loops, vocals) and Sylvia Solanas (vocals, spoken word).
Clerecia Towers, Salamanca reimagined by Bipolar Explorer.
———————
This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights.
Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage