Ceven’s Blog

At the end of last month there was a chance on the NPR website to preview the entire 2 disc album for The Knife’s newest work: Tomorrow in a Year. I played it over and over during those days. It made me incredibly happy on many levels.

I was instantly reminded of the second Geräuschkulisse session that I made with Miriam Siebenstädt in April 2009. We attempted (and I believe rather successfully) to imitate the sounds of a natural forest with musical instruments.

It was a wonderful experiment and became the first Geräuschkulisse Session video.

Miriam and I began working together at the beginning of that month. As I’ve found with many special relationships, the fact that we started with no expectations paved an artistic combination that I’ve never before experienced. It was for fun and each session could have failed or been the last, but that wasn’t the case. After a few months something interesting developed.

In the beginning no one was interested in our noises. People found our work stressy to listen to, but the sounds excited us. I learned a great deal about improvisation, freeform jazz and analogue forms of experimental music making. It propelled me into studying different theories and different approaches to just about all forms of creativity. Eventually these sessions influenced the way I deal with NEVEC RED and video making.

I find this new Knife album extraordinary and highly exciting. I can identify much of its construction. Olaf and Karin continue to validate my feelings about taking creative risks. Between the Geräuschkulisse Sessions and this new album, I am very inspired to follow a more organic path with NEVEC RED.

In the last month I’ve also come to learning about MIDI interfacing a bit deeper. My music is becoming more hands-on than ever before. I’ve spent many years programming and relatively little time getting dirty from the music, but that’s changing.

I’ve included the full selection of Geräuschkulisse music in the USF music player. It may be possible in the coming months that we decide to release it all plus a couple new tracks for sale in an album download. I’m very proud of the work we’ve done and believe that when people hear it all together in context they will realize it’s not all just accidental noise but a spiritual conversation.

The Knife album comes out in March, you may pre-order it from the website. I highly recommend taking a listen and securing a copy. It’s beautiful art!