The volume of this work is at the level of trembling clothes. An affective noise that moves bodies and governs the internal rhythms of an audience to match its ritual of dialogue balladry. The singer is standing in a washed-out strobe aurora with a mic lead coiled in her punk rock grip, hand-in-hand with one from the crowd. The crowd let it lull them into a meditative state.
Noise is often a subtle charming of our unconscious reactions, whether the drip-drip of an irritating tap or the hollow roar of a train-journey tunnel. It holds and releases insides and surface, quivering and dimpling and pushing you back, fading into the background with time but rearranging you as you stand. It bathes and heals and envelops your stresses, leeching it back through vibrations that heal. FK Alexander enters into eye-contracts of healing interaction flanked by the two noisy sentinels of her co-performers. For an hour after entering you stand, sit or shuffle in the space at the limit of aural endurance, until leaving into the shocking quiet. It’s sound as a weapon targeting isolation, and sound as a healing force, bridging bodies in the room.
The work is a cover version of a performance moment, a reinterpretation of a numbingly repeated song to convey the hurt and poignance of the final performance of an aging star. Clattering drums and odd discordance augment the familiar Hollywood build to a transcendent moment of cathartic release. The formality of dressing, undressing, and holding hands acts out a serenade as an engagement. When Judy Garland died of an overdose of barbiturates in 1969 it was an overstimulation to the point of limit. The noise here is an overstimulation, but one that heals as much as that other destroyed. (LC)
(I Could Go On Singing) Over The Rainbow ran at Summerhall Basement until August 28th - https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/i-could-go-on-singing-over-the-rainbow
FK Alexander: https://www.artsadmin.co.uk/artists/fk-alexander
A History of Using Sound as a Weapon: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-history-of-using-sound-as-a-weapon
Sound Healing: http://qz.com/595315/turns-out-sound-healing-can-be-actually-well-healing/
Come On, Feel the Noise (Paul Hegarty): https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/10/squarepusher-paul-hegarty-noise
Clip of Judy Garland’s Final Television Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJhHPTBjzac
The Second Summer of Hate: Noise Rock Now (The Quietus): http://thequietus.com/articles/19966-noise-rock-2016-reviews
Okishima Island Tourist Association Shoot: http://www.kovoroxsound.com/OKISHIMA%20ISLAND%20TOURIST%20ASSOCIATION%20-%20SHOOT.html
