Aquaserge "Un Grand Sommeil Noir" (Edgar Varèse) nieuwe clip/single via Crammed Discs. File under experimental pop.

This new video & digital single is an appetizer for the upcoming album by incomparable French avant-pop band Aquaserge.

Un grand sommeil noir is the band’s interpretation of one of the rare songs by revered composer Edgard Varèse, who set a poem by Paul Verlaine to music, in 1906. When he wrote this tonal, post-romantic piece, Varèse was 23 and was still influenced by his then-contemporaries Debussy, Ravel and Satie. He had barely started the journey which, from the 1920s on, led him to revolutionise contemporary classical music (and, much later on, to become Frank Zappa’s role model...)

As for Aquaserge’s new album, it’s a very special project in which the band set themselves quite a challenge: drawing inspiration from four major, atypical figures in contemporary classical music from the mid-20th century (Ligeti, Scelsi, Varèse and Morton Feldman), in order to write & record an album which joyfully blurs boundaries between rock and what used to be called ‘serious music’.

Entitled The Possibility of a New Work for Aquaserge (the title is inspired by that of a Morton Feldman piece), the album will be released on October 15, as part of Made To Measure, Crammed Discs’ celebrated composers’ series, which is being reactivated in 2021 after a long slumber.

The Possibility of a New Work for Aquaserge is also the title of a music theatre show, which Aquaserge will be performing in several European cities, a.o. as part of open-minded contemporary music festival such as Art Musica (Brussels) and Aujourd’hui Musiques (Perpignan).

Judging by their previous albums, it appears that Aquaserge’s music is “densely packed with ideas, boldly anarchic about ignoring borders and boundaries of every kind, and dazzling with joyful weirdness” (The Wire, UK), and “playful, seductive, and joyous” (All Music Guide, US). The band is “A musical galaxy in perpetual movement. One of the most exciting exploration labs in the French scene” (Les Inrockuptibles, FR) and “A real gem” (El Pais, ES)

Music video (3) Aquaserge - Un grand sommeil noir (Official Video) - YouTube