Aves Rubrae by Heinali

Aves Rubrae ('red birds' in Latin) was initially commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York for MoMa magazine in 2023. It was recorded in one take on Heinali's modular synthesiser—an instrument that Oleh set up informed by artistic research of the past five years, enabling him to improvise polyphony and monophony, borrowing techniques and ideas from medieval composers & theorists and contemporary fields of analogue synthesis & generative music—exploring intersections of the Providence and Contingency, the past and the present, technology and the sacred.

Similar to the organa of XII-XIII century Notre Dame polyphony, Aves Rubrae is an organum that features fast-moving upper voices with intricate melodies created by the machine overlaid on the slow-moving drones of the lower voice. However, unlike the Notre Dame polyphony, composed for grand church celebrations, 'Aves Rubrae' has an eschatological tone that is perhaps more fitting for the world at hand. The piece references 'Red Birds Will Fly Out Of The East And Destroy Paris In A Night' (allegedly referencing one of the apocalyptic prophecies of Nostradamus) by Coil, paying homage to one of the most influential artists whose music shaped Oleh during his teenage years.

Aves Rubrae's music video was made by Czech visual artist Olbram Pavlíček at the MeetFactory residency, which was supported by the Shape+ platform in 2023. Olbram: 'When I listened to Heinali’s track for the first time, the sound of organs inspired me to create a vertical video as an examination of spaces with seemingly random narrations. The video comprises three levels: The first one centres around the notion of unlocking, the second one focuses on monumentality, and the third one is an examination of a core. I projected some of my interests in sculpting and put seemingly unrelated objects together to create small side story lines.'

Oleh Shpudeiko is a music composer and sound artist who records as Heinali. He specialises in electronic music and modular synthesis, taking inspiration from Early music and medieval polyphony. Oleh writes music for games, films, choreography performances, creates sound art installations and performs live shows. Booking: oleh@heinali.info

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