Clothilde - Os Princípios Do Novo Homem (2021)

Out of the eight “Principles Of The New Man”, making up the play staged at Malaposta in October/November 2020, four are cut out for this independent soundtrack release. Precisely those which author and director Pedro Saavedra designated for distinct sound pieces. The remaining four are accompanied by The Background (“A Base”), a long, hypnotic, meditative and pulsating piece over which the listener is offered a chance of imaginative creation, just as in the play it assumes a background role to the text and music.

The author’s briefing and Clothilde’s attentive listening to the (long) original text were the sources for the composition. Each track was completed in one take, no editing. The music thus simulates a live performance, careful to adapt to the stage action but also respecting the natural rhythm of the equipment the artist manipulates. This – shall we say – organic dialogue is itself the creative process and generates a sort of autonomous area where woman and machine cannot be dissociated from each other.

Austere march across a barren land which, through sound, reminds us of the flat surface in Moderan, from the homonymous classic science fiction series of short stories. The titles themselves (“The Dawn”, “The War”, “The Fortress”, “The New World”) resonate as big keywords, each one a full epic suggesting the action in Moderan, within a narrative arc which follows the stage scenograph´s conflict between light and darkness.