Slovak guitarist-sound artist-soundtrack composer David Kollar dedicates his new album to Russian filmmaker, writer and film theorist Andrei Tarkovsky. Kollar was inspired by the late Tarkovsky’s theory that a movie reflects a sculpting of time, a notion that he perceives in his own way of making music. Kollar’s 14, concise pieces are his own time sculptures, a sonic diary of his experiences during the last year.
Kollar composes layered, nuanced compositions, intensified with electronics and effects. He enjoys contributions by honorary guests – French trumpeter Eric Truffaz, Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen (who collaborated before with Kollar on «Illusion of a Separate World», Hevhetia, 2018), fellow guitarist-sound artist Austrian Christian Fennesz and American drummer Pat Mastelotto, known from his work with King Crimson, who reads a poem. Slovak painter Peter Popelka, who has an atelier above Kollar’s studio, accompanied the compositional process of this album and did the artwork.
Most of Keller’s time sculpture are linear, carefully structured and melodic. These pieces do not attempt to capture the enigmatic visual power of Tarkovsky images, often challenging, minimalist and abstract dream-state imaginary. There are few exceptions and these pieces are the arresting ones. «A.T.», with the hypnotic and processed, Fripp-like effects and electronic ambiance, integrates vocal and audio quotes from Tarkovsky’s seminal movies «Stalker» and «Mirror». Henriksen injects a sense of melancholic mystery to a loose adaptation of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s famous composition «Sick Doll» (now titled «Sick Doll ‘s dream») and contributes beautiful, poetic playing to the soundscape of «Reflections». Fennesz adds a darker, disturbing dimension, a true dystopic interpretation of Tarkovsky’s imagery, to «Sunlight», contrasting the innocent, reserved tone of Kollar. The suggestive, processed vocals of Mastelotto – who reads a quote from Russian poet Boris Pasternak’s poem «Night» – together with the processed trumpets of Truffaz and Henriksen and the powerful guitar of Kollar envelope the atmospheric «Prisoner of Time».
Eyal Hareuveni
David Kollar (g, ronroco, guitalele, elec, synth, sound processing, b), Erik Truffaz (tp), Arve Henriksen (tp), Pat Mastelotto (poetry reading); Christian Fennesz (g, synth, elec)
