… and other utopias
by Francis Dhomont |imed_0682-0001|
Utopian, these aural mirages surely are — not in the political sense
of the Ideal City, but in the etymological sense of ou-topos: belonging to no
specific location, except for imaginary territories; creatures of illusion
and, in this case, sound. These aural “non-lieux,” these chimeras
of perception, resulting from treatments and made from unlikely parts that
are loosing their identity, stripped off of any audible source, are fictional
beings born out of a dreamer’s nomadic invention.
Also utopian are — haven’t it been said often enough? —
these sonic structures attempting to avoid traditional music codes,
disregarding their imperatives, and offering a stream of mental images to our
psyche. However, do we really have to be reminded of all these things that we
know so well? Certainly, for in these cybernetic times, is there anything
more necessary than the reality of utopia?
So, here are five fantasies to be listened to with eyes closed; in
sequence, they dream up sound in space, mankind’s revolt against its
own nature, a few light phenomena, a symbolic journey, and the tumultuous
manifestations of exaltation.
Francis Dhomont
[English translation: François Couture,
viii-06]
|