scènes, rendez-vous
2006
fixed medium - stereo
18’11”
(for my father)
When I was young, I remember my father telling me about a film which consisted of a sports car driving at incredibly high speeds through Paris at dawn, from the Boulevard Périphérique all the way to the Baslique Sacré-Cœur in around 9 minutes. The film was shot from the front of the car and the soundtrack was the sound of the car’s engine. The film was C’était un Rendez-vous shot by Claude Lelouch in 1976.
Much as I enjoyed the soundtrack, I would watch (as a tourist) all these famous Parisian landmarks flying past and wonder about the real soundscape of these places. One Sunday in June 2006 I walked the route which Lelouch’s car takes, recording sounds in various places along the way – some are general soundscapes which reflect the different acoustic properties of the spaces, some are particular sounds (cars running over drain covers, ambulance, street musicians).
I took various “constraints” from Lelouch’s film: • Lelouch had only 10 mins of film in his camera – I limited myself to 1 hour of recording time; • Lelouch’s film was one take only – I would use only sounds from the single sound walk; • Risk – Lelouch had no idea what would be in his way – I had no idea what sounds I would come across.
The piece consists of six “scenes” which are untreated field recordings which are interspersed with acousmatic episodes derived from the sounds of the scenes and from aspects of Lelouch’s film:
Introduction - scène; Boulevard Périphérique - épisode 1 - scène; Avenue Foch - épisode 2a - scène; Rue de l’Opéra - épisode 2b - scène; Ste Trinité - épisode 3 - scène; Avenue Junot - épisode 4 - scène; Sacré-Cœur
scènes, rendez-vous was created entirely in Paris in June 2006 and realised in Studio A of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales.
scènes, rendez-vous appears on Scènes available from bandcamp
Performances
2006
Oct 28 - Reid Hall, University of Edinburgh - Soundings
Nov 26 - MacRobert Lecture Theatre, University of Aberdeen - Blurring the Boundaries/SoundAsArt
2007
Jan 9 - RSAMD, Glasgow
Jan 27 - ODC Theatre, San Francisco, USA - San Francisco Tape Music Festival
Mar 8 - CBSO Centre, Birmingham - BEAST - review Tom Kerswill
Apr 27-28 - Neighborhood Unitarian Church, Pasadena - Los Angeles Sonic Odyssey
May 3 - Picture Gallery, Mitchell Hall, Aberdeen - University Concert Series
Aug 14-17 - SESI Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil - HIPERSONICA
Aug 17 - Crest, Drome, France - Futura Festival
Nov 26 - Belmont Cinema, Aberdeen - soundfestival
2008
Feb 26 - Mar 29 - Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - FILE Rio
Apr 19 - VIVO Media Arts Centre, Vancouver, Canada - Signal and Noise
Jun 11 - SESC Vila Mariana, Sao Paulo, Brazil - VII BIMESP
Aug 29 - SARC, Belfast - International Computer Music Conference
Nov 12 - Left Bank, Tarland - soundfestival - review - soundfestival
Dec 3 - PACE Studio 1, De Montfort University, Leicester - DMU Concert Series
Dec 10 - Studio Hydro-Québec, Monument Nationale, Montréal, Canada - Akousma 5
2009
Apr 4 - Elebash Hall, CUNY, New York - 1st New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival
May 12 - University of Hull, Scarborough
Dec/Jan 2010 - DEGEM/ZKM Web Radio - DEGEM/ZKM
2010
Jan-11 99.1 RadioHDR, Rouen, France Phonogène #2
Feb 16-19 - University of North Carolina, USA - CHAT Digital Arts Festival
May 6 - Zeste, Aberdeen - University of Aberdeen
Sep 10 - Woodend Barn, Banchory - Woodend Arts Association
2011
Feb 12 - Reid Hall, University of Edinburgh - Soundings
Apr 1 - Leeds College of Music - n.one9
Oct 24 - University of Sheffield
Oct 25 - Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen - soundfestival
2012
May 12 - Bio Roxy, Bergen - Föreningen Musikspektra
May 13 - WMUA FM 91.1, Amherst, USA - Martian Gardens
2013
Oct 12 - Woodend Barn, Banchory - Sound + Image
Nov 14 - Meany Hall, University of Washington, USA - Music of Today (DXARTS)
Nov 20 - Casa de la Cultura, Morelia, Mexico - Morelia Festival
2015
Mar 6 - Bewerunge Room, Maynooth University, Ireland
May 15 - Centro Culturel Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina - LIPM
Jun 1 - Radio Horizon 93.9, South Africa
Sep 4 - Teatro Maria de Lourdes Sekeff (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil - T-SON86, Studio Panaroma
2016
Mar 23 - The Dome, Bramall Building, University of Birmingham - miniBEAST
2018
Mar 7 - The Venue - Leeds College of Music
2019
Dec 12 - Théâtre Marni, Brussels, Belgium - L’Espace du Son
2020
Nov 4 - Radio Horizon 93.9, South Africa