Presence / Absence : : : Into the Void

In February 2003, Sebastian Meissner (aka Random Inc), Ran Slavin and Eran Sachs visited Krakow, Poland to make some field recordings. They focused mostly on the districts of Nowa Huta, an abandoned industrial area, and Kazimiers, the 700-year-old Jewish district of the city decimated by the Nazis. No need to say that these locations are rich in historical and cultural heritage. For Into the Void, each artist produced his own work. Meissner's "Into the Void" gives the CD its title and deserves it. It is the strongest piece of the set, a true 35-minute "cinema for the ear." Using field recordings from Kazimiers (footsteps in the snow and conversations, among many other sounds) and samples of Jewish music or music by Jews (Itzhak Perlman playing "Stolen Memories," for instance), Meissner evokes, tells, and reflects on the hardships he found etched in the buildings. An acute sense of spatial composition and narrative structure the work and draw the listener into a captivating aural tale. "Into the Void" is Meissner's most mature and accomplished work to date. In comparison, Ran Slavin's "Segments From the Snow" (30 minutes) is somewhat cold and abstract. Slavin chose to focus on Nowa Huta, which translates into a more metallic sound palette and larger, emptier spaces. The human element that makes Meissner's piece so attractive and moving is lacking here. "Segments From the Snow" contains a fair amount of interesting twists and clever compositional processes, but it covers little new ground. Eran Sachs contributes the two-part, 15-minute "Memory Gaps" marks a return to the Kazimierz district. More electronic-sounding than Meissner's concrete music-like piece, "Memory Gaps," despite its clarinet samples, is the work farthest removed from the real-life Krakow, yet, paradoxically, it feels more in touch with the human element of the city than Slavin's piece. The clarinet transformations in "Crackle" (the second part) are particularly imaginative and gripping. ~ François Couture, Rovi