Voices #14
◦ “voices” is the place where we ask, artists reply and you read.
here we got:
KORF AR SON
answering some questions. We have already observed their ambient piano / minimalism / contemporary classical work here.
n.b.: this is a sound-based art project linking piano improvisations to their graphic transcriptions.
eyes and ears are equally important here, so we’re showing some images of their visual work below.
◦ [Nebel Lang and Sylvain Levier speaking]
[1. IDEA]
■ The A. O.: Can you tell us how “Rippen 115892“ came to light?
► Nebel Lang: Rippen 115892 is the sixth published piece from the Korf ar son project, which has a concept and a specific procedure: I tune a piano, and when I’m done tuning it and consider it ready, I improvise on the piano, testing its tuning. That’s precisely what is recorded and sent to Sylvain so he can continue with his part. This particular piece (Rippen 115892) comes from a piano I bought, a personal piano, in the city of Kiel, Germany. I tuned it and recorded it while testing its tuning; that piano is also the sound of some albums by Nebel lang. The idea for the project arose some years before its first released piece, even this very method, of recording a recently tuned piano, freshly so to speak, I did as part of a cycling trip that mostly covered France in 2018, and on a few occasions I came across pianos along the way, people who hosted me who had pianos, or people I crossed paths with and knew other people who had a piano needing tuning, and so I tuned a couple of pianos and the concept took shape. From those tunings and recordings around 2018 nothing was yet worthy for Korf Ar Son. I couldn’t record most of the tuned pianos, or the pieces were very short, or I couldn’t finish tuning and had to continue the trip. So, well, the first published piece by Korf Ar Son would be the first in which several conditions were met, both on my side with the piano and the tuning, and on Sylvain’s side as well.
► Sylvain Levier: The Rippen improvisation has a rather special history, as it was recorded in 2021 and visually transcribed well afterwards in October 2024. Released in December 2024, more than a year had passed since the last release, and the challenge was to recapture the original spirit of the project despite the passage of time, to stay accurate to it and not miss out.
[2. CREATION]
■ The A. O.: How do you usually approach composition? Are images conceived before music or vice versa? How do you generally proceed from the initial seed to the complete work?
► Sylvain Levier: Korf ar son is a sound-based art project, with music at its core. it all starts with the music using the method described above.
The graphic transcription is the second phase of the process. In order to obtain more than a simple abstract representation and to make music and image inseparable, the structure of each drawing was obtained by the materialization of a time line representing a sequence of approximately one minute extracted from the track. The alternation of silences, resonances, and clearly heard sounds determined the visual composition of each central part of the drawings, which then contained the rhythmic signature of the improvisation.
There is a strong emphasis on the notion of a unique moment in time, linked to a place and circumstances. The improvisation, as well as the original drawing work, are not intended to be reproduced. Each track carries the memory of an instant of which each visual work becomes the mode of transmission.
[3. FEEDBACK]
■ The A. O.: What do you hope people feel or experience when engaging with your art?
► Nebel Lang: If one explains the whole tuning process and so on, I think one of the most important things to understand is that each piano has its characteristics and each tuning a particular sound, and I feel that it is worth getting to know the piano’s specific sound and not forcing certain pieces to be played on a certain piano or expecting certain sounds from it.
You often hear from people that their piano is not played because it is out of tune or because it has some broken keys, and I don’t know, in my head if there are 3 broken keys, there are another 80 to play, and if it is truly out of tune, you can make another type of music. The problem arises when you expect a particular sound, when you compare it to a piano with a specific tuning, with a particular sonority, but if the piano expresses a unique sound that characterises it with its tuning or detuning, you can take advantage of that.
And without all that explanation, if you simply listen and see Sylvain’s art, perhaps I would like people to take a moment in their lives to contemplate, to take a step back, and observe and listen without having to interact, as we are so used to these days; to appreciate the different sonorities. One can understand that there are pianos that sound different, and there is nothing wrong with it. Regarding Sylvain’s work, I find it very interesting that, while maintaining a technique in all his pieces for Korf ar son, there are many details that characterise one piece and another. But to be able to recognise those differences, you have to stop for a moment, take a step back, and observe carefully. I think that’s one of the motivations for the project.
► Sylvain Levier: There’s often a clear lack of understanding about our collaborative work, I mean people think the images are just an illustration like a record sleeve. Graphic work and music are not meant to be separate, they are deeply linked. Korf ar son represents a sensitive attempt to bring two languages into dialogue.
So I’d say we hope that people will think about the music when they look at the image and vice versa. It’s also an opportunity to buy a numbered printed artwork, in the hope that it still makes sense to some.
[4. IDENTITY]
■ The A. O.: In a world saturated with digital music content and art in general, how do you try to keep yours distinct and personally meaningful?
► Sylvain Levier: The profusion is not so much the problem as our behaviour in the face of it. Hearing without listening, seeing without looking, our senses are altered by immediacy and availability. What we end up loving is the simple idea that things are accessible to us.
You can’t stop creation, but you can learn dicernement.
For our part, we simply try to be ourselves, to be relevant, without further calculations or commercial considerations. We’d be doing something else if we didn’t.
[5. INFLUENCES]
■ The A. O.: Name 3 albums that you consider relevant to your musical path and why.
► Nebel Lang: I’ve been influenced mostly by things outside of music. If I have to comment on something from the musical world, more than an album it has been the Ambient genre in the widest sense that has been influential. And if we’re talking about names beyond classics like Biosphere and Brian Eno, I think the one who caught my attention the most in terms of sound was “Marsen Jules”. I’m going to do my homework and give an album name haha “Les Fleurs Variations” in the trio lineup. If we move closer to the academic world, leaving aside Arvo Pärt’s masterpiece “Für Alina“, a project that has been very important in gaining confidence in my sound, it has been the trio “Triosk”, especially its drummer Laurence Pike with his peculiar way of playing the drums, from clear rhythms, breaks and textures, something I had never heard at that time. I’m going to highlight their album “The Headlight Serenade” with special focus on the track “Lazyboat”. And since we’re on that path, as a trio, approaching jazz, another project that has given me the confidence to continue developing my sound and extended composition in the form of improvisation is another Australian band, “The Necks”. Their calm, their time management, their never-ending desire, and their ability to subject listeners to an extended session of absolute contemplation. I’m going to highlight the album that introduced me to them, almost 40 years after its release: “Sex“.
► Sylvain Levier: ○ Jürg Frey – l’air, l’instant – deux pianos (Reinier van Houdt / Dante Boon). Label Elsewhere
I was lucky enough to be contacted for the cover of this recording, and I can say that I was introduced to contemporary classical music thanks to this one. It was like a new universe opening up to me And it was dizzying.
○ John Coltrane – A love supreme
Can this recording leave anyone indifferent? I don’t think so.
○ King Crimson – Larks’ Tongues in Aspic
Progressive rock at its best. Guitarist Robert Fripp is a sound wizard.
[6. REGARDS]
■ The A. O.: Leave us with a quote you love.
► Nebel Lang:
“Ella está en el horizonte.
Me acerco dos pasos,
ella se aleja dos pasos.
Camino diez pasos y el horizonte
se corre diez pasos más para allá.
Por mucho que camine,
nunca la alcanzaré.
¿Para qué sirve la Utopía?
Para eso sirve: Para caminar.“
Paraphrased by Eduardo Galeano from words by Fernando Birri
► Sylvain Levier: There are so many great quotes, but here’s one that comes to mind :
“To see is to think, and to think is to see” (Richard Serra)