After a hiatus of several years, Amatorski released their new album Curves and Bends, Things Veer on March 1st 2024, once again through the Crammed Discs label.
The title of the new album is taken from Timothy Morton's book All Art is Ecological, which explores the complex and nonlinear nature of reality. Unlike Amatorski's previous releases, Curves and Bends, Things Veer focuses less on interpersonal relations, it rather attempts to conduct a modest and subtle search for the relationships between humans and nature, time and phenomena. Other inspirations for the album came from Taoist poetry (translated by Ursula K. Le Guin) and the work of Anna Tsing, Donna Haraway, Karen Barad and others.
The album is written, composed, arranged and produced by Inne Eysermans (vocals, keys, guitar and programmed/electronic rhythms). Additional arrangements were recorded with the collaboration of guitarist Jasper Segers, drummer and percussionist Christophe Claeys, and Liew Niyomkarn, who integrated various field recordings and synthesized sounds into the songs. Dienne Bogaerts played the oboe on Echo Variations. The outcome is a rich collection of recordings further processed by Inne, with Yves De Mey overseeing the mixing (excluding High the Tides and Come to Dust, which were mixed by Inne Eysermans). Since Inne is affected by unilateral deafness, which prevents her from perceiving stereophonic sound/music, and after years of mixing in stereo, she seized the opportunity to explore the idea of a mono mix for this album.
Amatorski’s previous releases include the Same Stars We Shared EP (2010), the albums TBC (2012) and From Clay to Figures (2014), and several singles (2015-2017). They composed soundtracks for films and television (including the title track for the BBC series The Missing), and explored the boundaries of music, internet, and video art in their interactive multimedia project Deleting Borders (see projects). They wrote and performed an original soundtrack for Impatience, the 1928 pioneering experimental film by Charles Dekeukeleire, and released the performance as well as the original film on a DVD.
During the 2020 lockdown, Inne started creating new songs and reviving older sketches. Her solo activities and collaborative projects, the exploration of experimental approaches to text and storytelling, her interest in the practice of (mediated) listening and in ecoacoustics have brought forth new themes. Recent global events, such as the pandemic, climate change, and the Black Lives Matters protests in 2020, have influenced the creation of the album.
Che Go Eun’s artwork for the album depicts a 'digital garden' or synthetic still life, showing a symbiotic relationship between human and non-human entities. Inspiration for this was taken from Che Go's own work, the films of Bertrand Mandico and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, illustrations by Maruyama Okyo, sonograms of body tissues and muscles, microscopic images of bacteria (including, for example, the vibrio bacteria), and a 3D model of a virus. Che Go created live-rendered videos featuring the album artwork, accompanied by the tracks excerpts titled High the Tides and Come to Dust.
For the live performance of the album, visual artist Winnie Claessens creates various miniature installations using (natural) objects, materials, or textures. In collaboration with scenographer Lucas Van Haesbroeck, a scenography is created with the installations, cameras and projections. The live performance explores the album in a spatial way, and sets up its own search between the human, nature, technology and phenomena, interwoven with the live music by Amatorski. Michiel Venmans recorded some shots of the miniature installations for the video/single of 20/04.
This project is made possible with the support of the Flemish Government and in co-production with deSingel, VIERNULVIER, STUK, CCHA/cultuurcentrum Hasselt, CC Strombeek and Ancienne Belgique.
Amatorski’s live band consists of Inne Eysermans, Timon Persoon, Lucien Fraipont and Christophe Claeys.
Composed, written and produced by Inne Eysermans.
Arranged, engineered and recorded by all musicians involved.
Vocals, keys, guitar and programmed/electronic rhythms by Inne Eysermans
Guitar by Jasper Segers
Field recording and additional sound by Liew Niyomkarn
Drums, percussion, vibraphone and programmed/electronic rhythms by Christophe Claeys
Oboe on Echo Variations by Dienne Bogaerts
Recorded at our homes and workspaces
Mixed (in mono) by Yves De Mey, except for track 4 & 5 mixed by Inne Eysermans
Mastered by Gregory Bauchau
Artwork by Che Go Eun
Graphic design by Silvia Baldan
Many thanks to Hendrik (and Rockoco) and Marc (Crammed Discs), everyone involved in making this album happen, friends and family, and our lovely furry companions Charlie and Galaxy!
TRACKLIST:
1. 20/04
2. Years to Come
3. High the Tides
4. Diatomea
5. Come to Dust
6. How You See You Saw*
7. Welcome
8. Nebula
9. Echo Variations
10. The Garden
*How You See You Saw is inspired by the sonification of the Earth's free oscillations, derived from seismograms recorded in the 48 hours following the M6.9 earthquake off the coast of Fiji on February 24th, 2017. The original sonification was created by Joshua Russell and Celia Eddy, and has been freely adapted and reinterpreted for this track. (source: https://jbrussell.github.io/outreach/normal_modes/)
some literature read/listened to while making the album ::
All Art is Ecological by Timothy Morton (2018)
Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet, edited by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Heather Anne Swanson, Elaine Gan, and Nils Bubandt (2017)
Being Imposed Upon, initiated by publiekeacties, with contributions from Joëlle Sambi Nzeba, Olave Nduwanje, Emmanuelle Nsunda, Sabrine Ingabire, Aline Bosuma W’okungu Bakili, Heleen Debeuckelaere, Mireille-Tsheusi Robert, Munganyende Hélène Christelle, Modi Ntambwe, Emma-Lee Amponsah, Djia Mambu, Shari Aku Legbedje & Anissa Boujdaini, Gia Abrassart, Melat Gebeyaw Nigussie, Anne Wetsi Mpoma and Lisette Ma Neza (2021)
Experiments in Imagining Otherwise by Lola Olufemi (2021)
Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto by Legacy Russell (2020)
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin (1997)
Modern Nature by Derek Jarman (1991)
Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances by Walt Whitman (1860)
On the Necessity of Gardening by Maria Barnas (2021)
Radical Botany by Natania Meeker and Antónia Szabari (2019)
So Far So Good by Ursula K. Le Guin (2018)
Staying with the Trouble by Donna J. Haraway (2016)
Symbionts, edited by Caroline A. Jones, Natalie Bell and Selby Nimrod (2022)
The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin (1986)
