I haven’t heard from Silken Tofu in a while, and that’s a shame. Not only are the hearts of everybody involved in the right place, but they release some really beautiful works. My collection count on Discogs states I have about a third of everything they ever did so I think I could be considered a ‘fan’ somehow. Definitely in the past. So how come there is this gap? I have no clue. Perhaps the less frequent visits to Belgium and not attending concerts where I always buy shitloads of stuff, perhaps the high cost of postage. And maybe it was just a temporary thing and I’ll dive into their back catalogue from this moment on again. Because: Wow …
Early December, their latest release saw the light of day: an album by Philippe Cavaleri entitled “Bardo”. For those not in touch with the Belgian noise and experimental audio and visual art, Philippe is also known as half of the duo Bruital Orgasme. I saw them frequently at shows in the north of Belgium and the south of the Netherlands a couple of years ago. And seeing them was always surprising, though they stole my heart with the spinning wheel performances. That was so intense on so many levels. I think it was in The Pit in Kortrijk. But it’s THAT Philippe who has written “Bardo” alone this time.
According to the liner notes, the album’s concept is “an aural exploration of what the process of dying might sound like”. Life and Death is always a welcome inspiration for the somewhat dark or at least confrontational art. Many artists have touched the subject because it’s a gorgeous subject with two absolutes. You’re alive, or you’re dead. But not many artists touch the subject of the process of dying. I could only come up with “Blue” by Derek Jarman where he tells about what it is to die, the whole process from illness to Death. “Bardo” is very different on many levels. The tracks – which are 17 and 18 minutes long, so there’s more than enough space for all frequencies on the vinyl – don’t have spoken words; they’re sounds only. The cover has a white circle which is probably related to the light at the end of the tunnel, a new beginning. But with the darkness and complexity of the music it could also refer to the light at the top of the well (as in The Ring) to describe a hopeless situation.
So, even with this review, I can describe multiple interpretations of what I’m hearing, and that’s the beauty of art. Here the liner notes reveal what triggered Philippe: “Death is less an extinction than an ultimate electrical conflagration inside the brain”. Listening to these works with that in mind the tracks actually make more sense. Sudden sounds and their placement; The things happening around you when you die. And as for the reverse side it could well be an interpretation of ‘listening to your own funeral’. Now isn’t that a thing we all thought of at some point?
It is an album that will make me check into some Silken Tofu releases I missed in the past and also push me to register for the Bruital Orgasme releases I collected over the years.
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