About the process and the works
Prior to our arrival, we had the desire of working on videos. Once the music was ready, we worked on two scenarios, respectively inspired by the Danish "painter of light" Vilhelm Hammershøi and the American film director Terrence Malick, both of them being for us a reference to the fragility of human existence and "capturing the present".
For the first residency BKN in April-May 2021 we started a collaboration with the artist and singer Åsa Öhrn. The workflow came easily as we found out we have many common musical and visual references. Having the needed time and space to experiment, to improvise, we managed to capture elements from Nature and topics related to our personal experience of being in Sweden and that specific area of the archipelago. The sessions in the Björkö Kyrka were particularly prolific, as they helped us compose and record two songs – Abborredansen and The Screen.
In Abborredansen and The Screen, Viktor played and recorded the piano in the church. Prior to the recording sessions there, Viktor had time to experiment using an old detuned Eisenberg piano located in one of the rooms at the school. The mechanical and intonation "flaws" make this instrument unique. As a historical heritage of the school, we didn't want to tune it. Instead, we wanted to keep its sound as authentic as possible as a reference to the elapsed time during which it was used as a teaching tool. As a result, we decided to explore its potential during our next residency. In our daily explorations in the surroundings we got inspired by the radiant spring light and fragments of rural everyday life. The two musical compositions had captured different vibes of the place.
Abborredansen is based on original lyrics in Swedish written by Åsa Öhrn during our first days of collaboration. The main subject of the song is the will of life and the rebirth of the spirit and Nature during Spring. The images that were shot have an impressionistic approach, which aim to convey serenity.
The Screen was created as a dialogue in two languages between two characters located in different spaces. Åsa Öhrn wrote English lyrics based on the topics of isolation, solitude and imprisonment. As a response, bilyana wrote a poem in Bulgarian, the subject of which is the loneliness and longing for comfort and presence in an outdoor wild, hostile environment. The shots in the video play with the antonyms : inside – outside, presence – absence. The alternation of black frames, views through windows and outdoor shots place the spectator inside the narrative.
CPS's second residency at BKN took place in September 2021 continuing working Åsa Öhrn we recorded three new compositions including one instrumental the other to Nocturnal Mood and Nära.
We had three days of recording in church at Björkö, during which we aimed at recording most of the vocal parts and some instrumental ones to make use of the magestic acoustics of the space. Having more time to work in BKN allowed us to feature the old Eisenberg piano, which is used entirely in the third song we've written – Nocturnal Mood.
Nocturnal Mood is an English translation of a Bulgarian poem by Maria Aglikina. It speaks of the fragility of the human existence. The poem is inspired by two figures, a male and a female, both searching for the light. Icarus and Anna Karenina are symbols of freedom in a tragic decor.
Nära is an original song in Swedish with lyrics by Åsa Öhrn. It's an introvert reflection on the struggle of comprehension between lovers. The main character makes a parralel between his poetic, emotional attitude and the stereotyped obligations of human beings. The composition's development follows the story's contrasting images and metaphores.
As with CPC's first album, we wanted to curate the musical material, so that all the pieces create an entity or what's called a "concept album". Alike the storyboards in cinema, we strive to achieve an integrity and continuity of the compositions featured in the album and take advantage of the engineering possibilities of recorded material to create an exclusive discographic work. We realise song by song towards a full album.
/vb & bf, Björkö, Sweden, Sept 18th 202
