A Thousand Words

BVDUB - A THOUSAND WORDS

Es war ungewöhnlich still um den großen Mann des Ambient, der normalerweise nur wenige Probleme damit zu haben scheint, mindestens alle drei Monate ein neues Album zu produzieren und zu veröffentlichen. Sein letztes Werk "Safety In A Number", im eigenen Vertrieb via Bandcamp zur Verfügung gestellt, erschien im November 2015 - danach gab es nur wenige, dafür aber sehr dunkle, depressive, fast verzweifelt anmutende Wortmeldungen auf Facebook. Und keine neue Musik. 

Im Juli 2016 ändert sich das glücklicherweise. "A Thousand Words" ist ein einziger, 77 Minuten langer Track, vollgestopft mit dem besten aus seiner langen Karriere, stilistisch am ehesten mit legendären Monumenten wie "Home" oder "The Art Of Dying Alone" vergleichbar. Was immer offensichtlicher wird: die Verbindungen zwischen der Realität seines Lebens und seiner Musik. Der ideologische und vor allem emotionale Überbau, den er über seine Alben spannt wird immer plastischer und fundamentaler. 

Brock hat sich dazu auf seiner Bandcamp-Seite sehr ausführlich geäußert, zum einen über die tatsächliche Produktion aus eher technischer Sicht:

A Thousand Words is my longest, largest work to date, and what we can likely all agree this was all coming to - one, single 77-minute piece. Much more than one single narrative, however, it is comprised of 19 movements, and over 500 channels of audio... all performed in one take, live.
Combining a colossal library of pre-recorded and treated loops, samples, beds, and instrumentation, in concert with live arrangement, synthesis, loop creation, instrumentation, and even vocals, A Thousand Words is about as raw and unapologetic as anything I have ever made - as well as the most challenging, requiring more equipment, instruments, and dexterity than I have ever attempted before... as well three keyboards, six live instruments, and two samplers, all running through two computers and a phone, simultaneously. 

Zum anderen aber auch zum Hintergrund von "A Thousand Words":

A Thousand Words was borne from an amazing fact I discovered in recent times... that cats only meow to humans. They do not do so to each other, nor any other animal - but over time, have learned that this is the language with which they can communicate to people. And like with anyone, when you get to know them, you will know how much they truly have to say - they say it all, yet can do so without all the trappings, faults, and deception of people - for life is not anywhere near as complicated or unnecessarily difficult as we love to make it. It is, in essence, quite simple. And that is, in essence, quite amazing. 

Once I started to really meditate on this idea, it began to expand to all aspects of my life... and I began to hear sound, and view communication in an entirely different light. It finally awoke in me what had laid dormant for nearly a year, as I spiraled in a black hole of manic depression and apathy toward every facet of my being, my past, and my future. I set about to not only shatter that blackness, but to do so in a way that could truly respect my even deeper love for those in my life for whom I can feel true love. Love is the willingness to do absolutely anything for the object of that love - and I am fortunate to have had, and have, several forces in my life that have let me experience pure happiness, and pure love. It just so happens that they are also, generally, those with a fairly limited vocabulary - but they say it all. You don’t have to say a lot to mean everything... and that is true for us all. 

In diesem Zusammenhang ist es lohnenswert darauf hinzuweisen, dass drei US-Dollar jedes verkauften Downloads gespendet werden:

$3 from every sale of this album will be donated to the Animal Rescue League of Berks County (PA), SPCA of Wake County (NC), and numerous fledgling rescue centers in Europe who are instituting programs that encourage children to read to cats every day after school... not only providing a massive upturn in youth literacy and love of books, but hours a day where those who have been forgotten can have someone by their side. 

Ich finde das sehr inspirierend, und es wäre nicht das erste Mal, dass ich die Liebe erwähne, wenn ich von seiner Musik spreche und schreibe. 

Und ich tu's schon wieder: Wenn für mich eines aus seiner Musik spricht, dann ist das Liebe. Bedingungslos und total, mit all dem Licht und all dem Schatten, die es braucht, um die Liebe begreifbar zu machen.

Das purste und reinste Glück.

Erschienen im Eigenvertrieb, 2016.