BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Have you heard of pointillism? It’s the awe-inspiring technique with which painters create large works based on thousands, perhaps millions, of tiny dots and patterns. Like this:
The concept of producing beautiful art based on its collection of fragments is one that can be transferred across the mediums. And composer Zoltan Fecso has applied this technique into his new album Shimmer Raga.
The Melbourne artist draws on minimalism in his electroacoustic music. But his combination of repetitive and simple musical elements creates sound that is at once detailed and mesmerising. (Read on for a listen.)
Perhaps it’s the union of pointillism and human experience that has inspired Zoltan to produce such a remarkable new venture, which comes after his tours to Europe presenting talks on music technology; and his 2017 Bundanon Trust Artists in Residence participation.
You’re set to launch your debut album as Zoltan Fecso pretty soon – how exciting is that?
Very!! Especially because I’m finally releasing music under my own name. For this body of work, I can’t think of a better place than the Salon to present it live.
I’m excited about playing this new music in a space that’s dedicated to listening, because this music and the listening environment go hand in hand. It invites deep listening, but it leaves room for the listener to reflect and their mind to wander.
So what’s the backstory?
Shimmer Raga is actually the title of a painting by Claire Lefebvre, who I’m lucky to share a studio (and my life) with. It was painted in 2016; and until it sold in 2017, it lived in our studio while I was rebuilding from my identity crisis and burn out.
I saw a lot of music in that artwork. It observed and guided me as I eventually shaped my early experiments into a clear conceptual approach, which then lead me to pointillism.
Shimmer Raga explores themes and ideas of simplicity as therapy. Focusing on single notes as a foundation, repeating at various lengths, it invites close listening whilst also leaving room for the listener to be with their thoughts or do other things.
Ultimately, all of the pieces on the album came from improvisations that had a calming effect on me. I hope it has the same effect on the listener.
How is pointillism translated into a musical sense, and why is this an aesthetic that resonates with you?
I use fragments of single notes in the same way the pointillist painters used single coloured dots. With a series of notes, I can either have long decays, which leave space around the notes and eventually form shifting patterns and melodies; or choose to use shorter decays, which create faster repetitions, making the space between the notes harder to detect.
What resonates with me from both the painting and musical practice of pointillism is that, no matter how complex the end result may be, it all starts with one single dot – or note.
While pointillism is highly detailed, I read that your “desire to find simplification in [your] music stemmed from a particularly turbulent time”. How have you found balance between detail and simplicity?
I’m realising that simplicity actually allows for more details to emerge. If there are only a few elements present, you’re quicker to familiarise yourself with them, start to pay closer attention and notice things you might usually overlook.
In the past, I’d always add more in the hope to achieve more detail and ‘complexity’, but that often distracted from the detail of what was already there. So, simplifying was really therapeutic.
The pointillist painters of the late-19th Century realised this on an optical level. They only used a few colours and mixed them on the canvas, and that was their way of achieving the most luminous results. By simplifying the palette, they could get better results than if they had just added more paint or colours
What were you experiencing during this time that moved you to such an extent that you decided to change your musical approach?
I was struggling to find direction in my life in all aspects, especially musically. I couldn’t finish anything I’d started. I got depressed and wasn’t motivated to do anything. I was looking at buying all this new equipment, starting new projects, and was really getting taken over by the ‘more is more’ mindset.
It all got really intense emotionally and mentally, so I deleted everything. Old sessions, templates; I sold lots of equipment I didn’t need, and started from scratch.
On what journey would you like to take your listeners when they listen to your album live for the first time?
I hope that each listener will have their own journey. I don’t think this music calls for a collective listening experience, but rather gives each listener the option to take what they need from the music.
If you choose to listen closely, the patterns and melodies that emerge from note repetitions are quite mesmerising. The note relationships are interesting, too. There’s tension and release as the notes sound against one and other in ever-changing order. It’s like watching wind chimes – the patterns are random but there’s order to it as well. There’s a lot of subtlety to appreciate in this music.
Having said that, if you just need to close your eyes and sleep, I’m happy, too.
Is there anything else you’d like to add before we see you at the show?
I’d like to thank Claire Lefebvre for being my muse, Anna Morley for contributing her beautiful vibraphone playing, Alex Ruder from Hush Hush Records for releasing the album, and Taylor Deupree for mastering.
If you ejoyed Shimmer Raga, here’s a list of other artists to check out:
- Taylor Deupree
- Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
- Mary Lattimore
- Illuha
- Emily A. Sprague
- Marcus Fischer
- Martyn Heyne
Support Zoltan Fecso’s music when you see Shimmer Raga performed live on October 3 (Gorman Arts Centre, Canberra with Marlene Claudine Radice and Reuben Ingall), October 5 (Melbourne Recital Centre Salon), and October 10 (107 Redfern, Sydney with Marble Rain and Alexandra Spence). Listen below before you head along to see it live.
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Images supplied. Pointillism painting: A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, 1884. Shimmer Raga painted by Claire Lefebvre.
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