Glaciers by Thorsten Soltau
"Remembering someone who has passed away is not an easy task. It is both challenging and demanding. Depending on one‘s closeness to the person, the task varies between being a chronicler and coming to terms with the person‘s life. This publication belongs to the latter. It is an approach to a friendship with a person who has accompanied me closely for more than 20 years of my life: Karl-Werner Feyen.
The photos used in the insert were taken a week after Werner's death, both inside and outside his home. The portrait on the CD dates from 2017, and the illustrations on the outer sleeve were created using photographs and oil paintings from the archive."
Formed and shaped over the course of a year, 'Glaciers' is a listening piece and requiem. It uses sounds recorded while clearing out the apartment of his closest friend Karl-Werner Feyen after his death.
Five segments commemorate a life and a friendship in a dense composition, highlighting several key points of the deceased's life. Mixing in situ soundscapes with field recordings and synthesised variations, 'Glaciers' builds complex layers of electro-acoustic sounds. Spoken words from dictaphones and text-to-speech synthesis provide further biographical clues.
"Werner was a close friend who influenced me greatly," Thorsten Soltau recalls. Spending more than 20 years together formed a very close bond. "Werner was an unusual person and a hermit. He trusted few people and lived a life that most people would not pursue. However, Werner retained a very warm and gentle side".
That trust was to be extended when Werner asked Thorsten Soltau to take pictures of the murals he had painted on the flat walls. "In case he died, he said, please take pictures and preserve what I have written and painted here," explains Thorsten Soltau.
A small selection of the photographs were used for the sleeve design and can also be downloaded with the purchased album.
Tracklist
| 1. | Glaciers | 31:40 |
Credits
Thorsten Soltau: field recordings, voice, text-to-speech,
reed organ, electric cello, modular system and granular synthesis
Finalized and edited in 2023
Remastered in 2024 at Studio >Lichter Raum<
Design and layout by Leo Okagawa
Photography by Thorsten Soltau
Illustrations based on photographs and oil paintings
from the Karl-Werner Feyen archive
Special thanks:
Imke Feyen, Astrid Susanna Schulz, John Ihlo, Stefan Guba, and Leo Okagawa
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Thorsten Soltau is a Germany-based artist who has been working since 2009. Until now his works were released on labels focusing on noise/soundscape such as Auf Abwegen, Gerauschmanufaktur, Chondritic Sound, Sentimental Productions, and so on.
[Glaciers], dedicated to his lost friend, is a 31.5 minutes long piece and it is filled with ambience and electronic drone. The tones are sometimes gentle and warm, and sometimes melancholy. There are sounds of objects, voices, electronic sounds, and various other sounds flying in and out of the drones, as if we are listening to a requiem or watching the flashback of Soltau's friend's whole life.
Thorsten Soltauは2009年からドイツを拠点に活動しているアーティスト。これまでにAuf Abwegen、Gerauschmanufaktur、Chondritic Sound、Sentimental Productionsなどといったノイズ/音響系のレーベルから作品を発表してきている。
本作[Glaciers]は今はなき彼の友人に捧げられた作品であり、31分半のなかでアンビエンスに満ちた電子音のドローンが鳴り響く。その音色はときに優しく暖かく、ときに深い悲しみをまとっている。さらに物音や人の声、電子音などといったさまざまな音がドローンのなかで飛び交っては消えていくその様子は、まるでレクイエムを聴いているか、または走馬灯を見ているかのようでもある。
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Thorsten Soltau
Thorsten Soltau is a self-taught artist who has been working in the field of micro-sound and glitch since 2005. Recent compositions are arranged for elements of new classical music, drone and sound design. Fields of interest include sonic disintegration, conceptualism and dualism in philosophy, and gender-related issues.
Thorsten Soltau is a citizen of KonungaRikena Elgaland-Vargaland. He lives in Friesland, Lower Saxony (Germany).
www.thorstensoltau.de
