Phlegethon
Nov 14, 2020, 01:02 PM
Phlegethon created by Terminal Optimism (Stuart Chapman).
"Although aware of Dante's Inferno, I hadn't read it. A bit of research informed me that Phlegethon is a reference to much earlier classical references to hell, and that it's a circular river of fire, with souls submerged at various heights, held there by demons, according to their sins.
"The piece starts off gentle enough, or does it, the sound of the river you hear isn't quite right, the sound of then river morphs with that of a roaring inferno, again it has a slightly off flavour. You can hear the souls screaming and wailing as they drift endlessly by, along with the odd shriek out delight from a demon.
"The recordings of fire, river flowing and screams, were rerecorded out of the box through chorus and or delay units, manipulated by hand in real time. The 2 screams had been re pitched either digitally or by slowing down, then fed through a BBD on one channel and a PT2399, on the other. I was considering using really harsh incidental bedding tracks.
"I became aware of the endless nature of damnation and felt that something depicting that aspect of the suffering more apt. I often perform live with a large bank of edits, some looped, blending the layers, creating deep aural textures.
"I chose 3 of these, first a remix of Long Player, the thousand year long piece of music by Jem Finner, to depict Hell's bells, then a reworking of a Sate piano loop, through this you hear the sound of the angels, lamenting the fallen tortured souls drifting through the gaps in the sulphurous clouds, these clouds clear and you hear them grieving, but again, nothing sounds right here, the demons are mimicking them."
"Although aware of Dante's Inferno, I hadn't read it. A bit of research informed me that Phlegethon is a reference to much earlier classical references to hell, and that it's a circular river of fire, with souls submerged at various heights, held there by demons, according to their sins.
"The piece starts off gentle enough, or does it, the sound of the river you hear isn't quite right, the sound of then river morphs with that of a roaring inferno, again it has a slightly off flavour. You can hear the souls screaming and wailing as they drift endlessly by, along with the odd shriek out delight from a demon.
"The recordings of fire, river flowing and screams, were rerecorded out of the box through chorus and or delay units, manipulated by hand in real time. The 2 screams had been re pitched either digitally or by slowing down, then fed through a BBD on one channel and a PT2399, on the other. I was considering using really harsh incidental bedding tracks.
"I became aware of the endless nature of damnation and felt that something depicting that aspect of the suffering more apt. I often perform live with a large bank of edits, some looped, blending the layers, creating deep aural textures.
"I chose 3 of these, first a remix of Long Player, the thousand year long piece of music by Jem Finner, to depict Hell's bells, then a reworking of a Sate piano loop, through this you hear the sound of the angels, lamenting the fallen tortured souls drifting through the gaps in the sulphurous clouds, these clouds clear and you hear them grieving, but again, nothing sounds right here, the demons are mimicking them."
Part of the Inferno project to imagine and compose the sounds of Dante’s Hell, marking the 700th anniversary of The Divine Comedy. To find out more, visit http://www.citiesandmemory.com/inferno