ZEIT IM FLUSS
The EP
“Zeit im
Fluss” (time in a flow) originated as a work for the self-organized circus
ensemble “Zirkus Zueck” in Berlin-Friedrichshain. Their performance “Bedeutungsfrei
genießen. Algen, Zeits und Nichts” (Enjoy without meaning. Algae, time and nothing) dealt with questions
of time, work and pressure in our modern capitalist society and how those
things are unequally divided across gender lines. The latter aspect is
represented using field recordings usually associated with unpaid ‘female’
labor, such as cleaning or tearing paper as an illustration of crafting with
children. Sounds of traffic echo the noise of life in the big city, countless times
spent in traffic jams, that so many people experience on their way to work and
home. The central motif of the piece is the metronome that the clients required
since the performance was strictly timed. To bring in the subjectivity of time
or the utopian idea of breaking its reign, the metronome was routed through a
delay module, that was operated and recorded live. Glitches, bleeps and noises surround
the track atmospherically, created as byproducts and accidents of exploring the
modular.
Personally,
this piece marks an important milestone in my career and musical development. As
my first professional work, the project taught me a lot about collaborating
with clients: How to communicate about music with non-musicians, or what is the
monetary value of my work? Furthermore, I learned that I am not one of those musicians
that can sound like anyone else but that I have a specific style. My first
attempts at this project were all too focused on what I thought the clients
wanted rather than what I have to offer, and therefore turned out to be shit. Only
when I left aside samples and synths I didn’t like and harmonies I didn’t care
for, it took me two studio sessions with the modular case to finish the piece. And
they liked it! “Don’t try to be someone else to make other people happy.
Develop your own expression, and people will follow” is the lesson I learned
here.
Pictures:
1) Flyer of the circus show