SCORE IN VARIATION SPACE

10:51

Imagine a graphic musical notation that is constantly changing, branching into new variations of itself. Pitch, duration, choice and chance are determined by mutating flow charts that drive their sounds into multiple streams of chaos and novelty.

“As in many of McElwee’s films, the complexity and richness continually deepen throughout the work, and our ability to take in visual and musical information sharpens and improves as we continue to watch and listen. More and more layers are added, changing rapidly, causing an effect of shimmering clouds, and the color fields scintillate like iridescent gems. The music, in tandem, has more and more reverb added to it, so the bells are heard as if in a cave or cathedral, immersed in a cloud of ambient tones. This rich, dazzling array is hypnotically beautiful.”

David Finkestein, Lake Ivan Film Journal