Interview about "Shadows of Fading Time"

 

INTERVIEW ABOUT "SHADOWS OF FADING TIME"  

(Disco Gecko Recordings)

by Philip Durand

 

https://christianwittman.bandcamp.com/album/shadows-of-fading-time-2

 

— Christian, you are releasing a new album, "Shadows of Fading Time", on Disco Gecko Recordings Can you tell us more about it?

 

— I have been looking for some time to join independent ambient/electronic labels. The challenge for me is to widen my audience, obviously, but also to participate in collective dynamics, in synergy with artists I admire, like Andrew Heath and Banco de Gaia, for instance...

 

— But why would an independent musician like you join an English label?

 

— Joining a label means entering into a collective dynamic, into a shared project, with artists who come from different horizons, who have different musical styles, but who basically share the same vision, the same requirements... On Disco Gecko Recordings, I of course knew Banco de Gaia / Toby Marks, the label manager, but also Andrew Heath, an ambient musician whom I consider as an "alter ego", like a brother whose music accompanies and inspires me. And I could say the same about all the artists signed on Disco Gecko Recordings, who share the same vision, the same creative requirement...

 

— How does a self-produced musician like you fit into this digital eco-system?

 

— As a founding member of the Lightwave group (to which I still belong...), I have witnessed the evolution of the musical world.... None of the labels where we published our music (Erdenklang, Hearts of Space, Signatures...) really took the "digital turn". And they disappeared... We are now in a new world, dominated by digital platforms... The stakes, the dynamics are different, and new alliances must be forged to emerge in the ocean of digital productions...

 

— Can you tell us more about your album "Shadows of Fading Time"?

 

— My music is moving away from mainstream ambient, with its standardised sound and conventional patterns, to explore more contemporary and experimental listening spaces. I try to build complex and evolving soundscapes, where the listener is invited to play an active role, weaving and following the threads... The soundscapes I try to build are also possible worlds, with their own geometry, movements, and acoustic laws, which invite the listener to uproot himself and to take a step back.

 

— What types of instruments did you use?

 

A few years ago, I would have been happy, of course, to give you a full list of my instruments, ARP 2600s, RSF modulars, Polymoog, a Roland System 100, Korg WS and M1, Roland JD 800, etc.

 

Today, there is a multiplicity of tools that defy inventory...

 

I see myself as a soundpainter who uses different palettes, more or less colored, to create his soundscapes. I divert, personalize, customize the plugins I can use. I perceive myself as a painter, preparing his palette before giving the first brush stroke...

 

I tried to explore an alternative musical field, outside the mainstream ambient, going towards the "modern classical", even towards the "cinematic"... I'm interested in the resonances that a musical piece can create in the mind of its listeners: visions, dreams, thoughts...

 

I think that the creative tools we have today invite us to imagine, to break, to digress, towards the unpredictability of a vision, of an idea, of a concept.... While the commercial ecosystem of ambient music is reconfigured around some consensual schemes, the instruments, virtual or not, at the disposal of the creators open ever so wide horizons that it would be a shame not to experiment and explore...

 

— And to come back to your album "Shadows of Fading Time"?

 

— I am a great fan of the ECM label, but also of musicians of the so called "Modern classical" or "contemporary classical" genre... which includes musicians like Max Richter, Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds... What I like in this trend is the transgression of borders, the hybridization of genres, the reconfiguration of sound palettes, and the conviction that a different music, perhaps less immediate, could find its audience... My conviction as an independent composer is that I must follow my path, as demanding as it is, rather than lose my soul by making a more commercial music that is not really mine... I intend to pursue my creative path with labels, with musicians who share this ideal, this requirement, beyond the facilities of the commercial mainstream...

 

— What is coming next?

 

I have an album of space music, quite abstract and lightly experimental, "Orion Nebula", that will be released on an interesting label from Argentina, Cyclical Dreams (on May 19). I am currently working on different musical projects, it is too early to give details...

 

— And what about your group, Lightwave?

 

— With Christoph Harbonnier, we are currently saving, archiving and browsing hours and hours of studio sessions, originally recorded on Revox tapes, on DAT and on multitrack ADAT tapes. We have a huge amount of unreleased music, and among them, pure gems... So we are starting to edit and mix these recordings and think about some new albums. We are also in advanced discussion with a Belgian record company, with a strong focus on contemporary and "new musics" , for new releases of some of our "historical albums" no more available today, and of some new materials... I will tell your more this fall!