Red Paper Lanterns — Maybeshewill

#365Songs: July 24

There’s a cinematic theory that suggests that silent cinema is the only “pure cinema.” It’s the meticulous assemblage and juxtaposition of images that allow the art form to transcend its elemental building blocks.

In an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Alfred Hitchcock detailed the basic nature of visual storytelling:

“You have a man look, you show what he sees, you go back to the man, you make him react in various ways. You see, you can make him look at one thing, look at another — without his speaking, you can show his mind at work, comparing things — any way you run there’s complete freedom. It’s limitless, I would say, the power of cutting and the assembly of images.”

More interesting, at least for this particular conversation, is something he said to Francois Truffaut about the shortcomings of dialogue as a dramatic tool:

“That would be the average scene. To me, one of the cardinal sins for a scriptwriter, when he runs into some difficulty, is to say, we can cover that by a line of dialogue. Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.”

Likewise, the term “pure music” has been batted about, albeit with slightly less fanfare. The idea of “pure music” — music unencumbered by purpose, that exists purely for the experience of listening — doesn’t strike most people as a ripping good time. What’s the first artist that comes to mind? Or type of music? Oddly, I thought of Yanni. I imagined rain and wind chimes and a off-white muumuu flowing in a sea breeze.

Why? I think it’s because the idea of “pure music” is so off-putting that it could only come from the mind of Yanni — but there’s no reason that “pure music” needs to associate with such unsavories. If we extrapolate the concept of “pure cinema” and transport it to music, what right does New Age music have to commandeer our notion of purity?

People talk about the idea of “pure rock and roll” or “pure country,” but I think that’s a bit of a misnomer because they’re really talking about the Ideal as dictated by the tenets of the genre. In “pure cinema,” the purity comes from a focus, an interest, an obsession with film as a visual medium. Think silent cinema, Sergei Eisenstein, Charlie Chaplin and the end of City Lights (so. beautiful.); think about the conservation of language in the comedies of Jacque Tati, the dramatic, modest silence in Ozu; the vibrant, art films of Wong Kar-Wai. I’m just spinning a stream of cinema consciousness; this is by no means an exhaustive list. It’s just to put us in the right mood.

With these artists in mind, what would we consider “pure music?” I think we have to eliminate intelligible vocals, which means that “pure music” would need to be a relative concept. Agreed? Agreed. If you can understand the lyrics, you’re processing a story or interpreting meaning. You can’t have that — but lyrics could be in a language you don’t understand. Language, then, would only act like another instrument, a projector of eccentric, unique sound to be put in harmony with other eccentric, unique sounds.

Classical music. Jazz music. Post-rock. Electronica. German pop music. I’d almost argue that in order to be pure, the music most not subscribe to a particular genre. It must transcend genre and time. It should not be immediately identifiable as the product of a specific time period.

Is there anything left? Fuck if I know. This is an intellectual exercise. Now the thinking begins.

There may not be answer. “Pure music,” as we’ve conceived it, might not actually exist. In which case, welcome to Al Capone’s vault. I’ve been your guide into the dark nothingness that is #365Songs for July 24th.

Ahh, but there’s the rub. I still need to pick a song. This isn’t Smitty’s July 8th post.

I keep coming back to my post-rock list. There’s something inherently cinematic about a style of music that uses big, soaring guitars, piano, static, symphonic arrangements. It’s just more “outside of time” than electronic orchestrations with similar aims in exploring the existential human condition without words.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor is an easy choice. Lots of classical arrangements in a guitar-laden post-apocalypse. Checks a whole bunch of those boxes — but I bet you know GY!BE or you at least have preconceptions about what that “pure song” would sound like.

Dig deeper, you whisper, and I agree. Challenge accepted.

I’ve got one for you. I’ve seen this Leicester band lumped in with math-rock, post-rock, post-metal, prog (eh), and electronica. Someone even called it EDM. (Pure drivel.) Maybeshewill is sweeping and cinematic and, best of all, they’re nimble musicians that don’t shy away from a tempo change or multiple tonal overhauls within the same 5-minute track.

As my introduction, I give to you “Red Paper Lanterns” from their 2011 album I Was Here For a Moment, Then I Was Gone. Tell me, do you think it’s “pure music”? And if not, let me know what scratches that theoretical itch.

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