Sylvain Chauveau – Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)
At first Sylvain Chauveau’s Singular Forms sounded mediocre and almost empty to me. Imagine going to a restaurant ordering the most expensive meal on the menu and being served a pretzel on a very large plate. Working from the minimalist electronic canvas creates the vision that he, Sylvain, is singing a song produced and released moments before Earth’s destruction. Why this image of destruction? Our symbols, our histories, our meanings, all gone because of the constriction imposed by the minimalist canvas. Using the sounds that are entangled with our environment, taking these sounds apart, exposing them for what they are, and throwing them away.
I had to be in a very distinct mood to appreciate the almost softness of Chauveau’s Singular Forms. Chauveau’s songs bend time resulting in the creation of a false memories. The way the soft synth pans out faster than it pans in reminds me of those movie sound effects dealing with time travel, here is where false memories are created. On the canvas these appear as erasure marks. A mimesis of destruction that of which done cannot be undone.
Sylvain manages to paint images of ascension on this canvas. There are moments where you feel as if you are floating to the right place (whatever that place may be) which is why for me I have to be in a very particular mood to enjoy Sylvain’s work. I have visions of being on a strange planet with strange symbols for communication, in a sense it becomes very Kubrickian. Overall its a fun album if you are patient and willing to let your mind take charge over the forms and erasures Sylvain makes.
The Kubrickian Experience
