That Moment is a concept album, a musical adaptation of the eponymous text by Moldavian writer-poet-screenwriter Nicola Esinencu (1940-2016), known as the «terrible child» of the local literary scene. The dramaturgy of this so-called Oratorio that criticizes capitalist society was made by Belgian playwright Jean Vangeebergen (of zü. Klub). It was performed by Belgian modular synth player-composer Pavel Tchikov (of the post-rock Ogives) and Dutch G.W. Sok (aka Jos Kleij, the former vocalist songwriter of The Ex, and the post-rock ensemble Oiseaux-Tempête), accompanied by modular synth player Stéphane Diskus, and a string quartet.
The starting point of That Moment takes place in a real fact, which happened in present-time Moldavia, where a father cut his son’s finger with an axe, as a punishment for stealing a bit of money from the father’s wallet. from there the author combines the tale and its reality with a caustic irony, interrogating an unbridled capitalist society, where everything and everyone is for sale.
The musical adaption unfolds this dramatic tale through seven insightful moments-chapters and within a current sociopolitical framework. It is a sharp, satiric story about the downward spiral of the capitalist society with its indispensable inhuman cruelty and deep paranoia. It is articulated by G.W. Sok’s urgent, commanding spoken word delivery, adopting the role of the growing son in the «land of fools», and delivering the lyrics that radiate a similar sobering, subversive awareness to his own lyrics for The Ex. Tchikov’s rough, industrial-sounding modular synths are contrasted and softened by the neo-classical style string quartet. That Moment ends with the cynical conclusion of the son, now grown up and married, that everyone and everything, even the hyper-capitalist «land of fools», is open for sale: «and your wife / finally opens up / her own fashion line/house / and produces bulletproof bags for kids / which should protect the kids from a considerable number of bullets / even from the magnum ones / it only weighs 3 kilograms …»
Eyal Hareuveni
G.W. Sok (vocals); Jean Vangeebergen (dramaturgy); Pavel Tchikov (modular synthesizers); Maritsa Ney (violin); Roxane Leuridan (violin); Nathalie Angélique (viola); Eugénie Defraigne (cello); Stéphane Diskus (modular synthesizers); Timba Harris (viola)
