Drowning in Synesthesia

Bursts of eerie droning, creating haunting resonances and extracting otherworldly sounds. What we experience in Extraits de l’album Synesthesia is an experimental journey travelling deep into the unknown.

French artist Ronan Courty is about to release his album Synesthesia on Friday. Named after the perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway, the extracts Courty presents today underline the fitting title.

„For several years now, I’ve been researching sounds and techniques on my double bass linked to the objects I associate with it: clothespins, drumsticks, plastic, tuning forks… In Synesthesia, my aim is for the prepared instrument to generate sufficient resonances and harmonics to become polyphonic and enable me to envisage this solo as a dialogue, a duo,“ explains Courty.

The Metaphor of Bondage

Courty’s meticulous research results in an alien soundscape, cinematic in its quality, widening the field of view to a staggering size, and slowly filling the canvas with shades and shapes.

In the video, directed by Mathieu Fisson, Karine Laur performs Shibari on the double bass. Courty elaborates: „The idea of Shibari on double bass as a metaphor for my instrumental practice became obvious as I came to see this inanimate object as a living thing, adding objects and techniques without damaging it.“

Director Fisson adds: „I wanted to film the knots being tied on the double bass the way I like to film musicians playing: close up and in motion. There’s something raw and hypnotic about Ronan’s music.“

Yet, there’s also a notion of juxtaposition. One could read the constraints of bondage as a symbol for the instrument’s traditional intent, contrasting Courty’s unconventional approach to eliciting fantastical sounds. But what connects all three artistic practices—videography, Shibari, and Courty’s music—is a clear sense of beauty and attention to detail.