Music For Experimental Film - Volume 1

Liner Notes:

Exuberance. An unusual word to use perhaps but one that best describes my feelings towards experimental film. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to experimental film at the age of 18 in the form of Ballet Mécanique, a 1924 masterwork by Fernando Léger and Dudley Murphy. I saw it on a large screen and in complete silence. Having the screening take place under these circumstances allowed me to see the film in it’s original form and I was at once struck by the simplicity and simultaneous complexity of the imagery. Our human minds tend to look for a narrative… some sign posts of plot and therefore a beginning, a middle and an ending… all in the service of delivering a point. You won’t find that here. So what is this genre, this type of film for? I’ll leave the historic significance of this art form to scholars more equipped than I to give it context and speak as a simple observer… this type of film, for me, is about real life… elemental life. It’s about our first and true experience here for we each encounter the world through light and shadow, shade and depth, images and movement before anything else. We each begin our journey in this world suddenly, without framework and without language. We have no choice but to have an experience rather than a “knowledge of”, or, life as direct as it will ever be. Language tends to muddle things up and before we know it we have a secondary world of ideas and meanings and it’s near impossible to unlearn that. Experimental film, to me, brings us all back to the starting gate. I feel the same joy in screening some of these films as I feel riding on a swing set (something I suggest everyone keeps doing throughout their lives). There’s the thrill in the falling upwards as much as there is in the falling backwards. Be it in black and white or full color, experimental film frees us from the guard rails of a linear structure and sets us up to simply have an experience. There’s nothing to figure out… nothing to piece together… no lessons learned. As a composer I’ve tried my best to get out of my own way and construct these pieces with a free hand in that spirit using both acoustic and electronic instruments and devices. Cast in autumnal tone colors and/or desaturated vinyl and VHS tape emulations as was fitting in the final mix. Not specifically intended as a score to any particular film but meant as suggested auditory compliments to films such as Ballet Mécanique. The pieces in this volume (and the subsequent follow-up) were inspired by many, many wonderful works by brave artists from around the world and I am in their debt always for the gifts they gave, and are giving, to us all. In conclusion, fire up the next screen you can and climb aboard the next swing set you come across because there’s no time like the present to experience the world again… and smile.

- R.

CM New Release - Music For Experimental Film - Volume 1

Music For Experimental Film - Volume 1 was composed and arranged by Russell Giffen. Produced, engineered and recorded in the Autorium at St.Sann’s / Cinterscore Studios NY.

Special thanks to Spitfire Audio UK, Abbey Road Studios London, The London Contemporary Orchestra, CL Projects, Omnisphere, Pianoteq US and Waves US without whom this recording wouldn't have been possible.

Cover photography: cPress Graphics / CM

Music For Experimental Film - Volume 1 © 2022 Russell Giffen. CM Publishing

To Fernando Léger and Dudley Murphy with love and respect.

- R.

The work continues…