Kirmann, Franz
Elysian Park
The album was born from Hyper Trophies, a 2012 installation project by Berlin art studio Zeitguised that Kirmann was
commissioned to soundtrack. Both the visual and sonic aesthetic of that project were instrumental in defining the
artistic and sonic approach to Elysian Park. Hyper Trophies was a crossover art/fashion project and consisted of three
endless video loops presented in a vertical format and showing unemotional and deadpan female models floating amongst
nocturnal backdrops, evoking ghostly figures in some apocalyptical wastelands. That static verticality and the feeling
of loneliness are very present in the 14 compositions that form Elysian Park. The music fades in and out, creeps up on
you and disappears; The tracks bear no traditional structures, seem to lead nowhere and have no obvious melodies, riffs
or no beats to hang on to. There is a deep sense of space and emptiness surrounding the music forcing the listeners
attention to focus on the physicality of the sound rather than any melodic, harmonic or rhythmical content. Kirmann
refers to this record as "environmental", and is clearly interested in setting a space for the listener to wander around
and it is as if the music was approached in a sculptural way, the pieces born through carving into the sounds rather
than the sounds being organised over a linear timeline.
Another key influence on the development of "Elysian Park" was the reading of Michel Houellebecqs 2005 novel The
Possibility Of An Island. In Franz Kirmanns mind, Zeitguised digital sculptures offered an interesting graphic extension
of the novels themes in which human clones living in a post apocalyptical future study the lives of their originator
from the early 21st century and attempt to understand human emotions and connect with each other. The Hyper Trophies
video loops feel very organic and their textures strangely real, as if made of rubber or fabric, and the lines between
whats real or digitally made are blurred. The sonic materials on Elysian Park proceeds from a similar approach: whether
created from YouTube recuperated advertising, mangled pop samples, speech synthesis programs or digitally recreated
ethnic instruments, they all converge to create a virtual world made of "sonic junk" that may feel abstract or
alienating but also vaguely familiar.
But for all its bleak harshness, there are many moments of tranquil clarity on Elysian Park and a sense of a search for
a better, more peaceful place. The brooding and bleak numbers are offset against pieces of sepulchral beauty (Tears In
Your Eyes, Halcyon, Darknet) or sedated peacefulness (Mirage / Diazepam Dreams / Paradiso Beach). Through its everyday
sounds vaporised into oblivion, and its majestic sense of emptiness, Elysian Park eschews a fragmented black geography
of an emotionally alienated consumerist society.
Price
Genre
Format
LP - 2 disk
Release
21-10-2016
Label
Item-nr
495794
EAN
4059251012665
Availability
In stock
Tracks
Title
Artist
1
LAMENT 3:02
2
HIDDEN OLYMPIA / DIAMORPHINE CLICKSTREAMS 5:10
3
HYPERTRANCE 6:06
4
SCAVENGER 2:20
5
WASTELAND CONDO 3:06
6
LAGON 7:30
7
DIAZEPAM DREAMS 1:34
8
KILLSWITCH / DARKNET 6:25
9
THE PLEASURE CHANNEL 3:51
10
MIRAGE 2:48
11
LANZAROTE 1:15
12
PARADISO BEACH 3:01
13
TEARS IN YOUR EYES 6:48
14
HALCYON 6:15