Unbest

Marcus Rosentrater on Colin Stetson’s New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (2011)
(iTunes, Rdio, Spotify, Constellation Records)

On July 13, my friend Bryan sent me a link to an album over chat. The moment I hit play, the music sucker-punched my usual buoyancy, sweep-kicked any tonal sensibilities from under me and I was pinned under its cosmic weight for three days, provoking images of death, destruction, power, confusion, aftermath, chaos and eventually tranquility. All other music and consumption yielded to its suffocating presence. I was only allowed to take a break from listening to watch The Thin Red Line, twice.

Here was a man, and I’m talking about Colin Stetson, shouting and breathing the sounds of his New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges through a baritone sax. Laurie Anderson’s voice over taunted me: there were those who knew the rules; there were those who kissed the grey skies. What war was that? What town could this be?

Colin Stetson is man whose lungs were raised on north-midwestern air that allow him to circular breathe probably forever. He constructs his sounds on that instrument alone, but you wouldn’t believe it. In fact, he recorded the entire album live, in single takes, without overdubs or loops. I’m not a musician and can’t tell you the technical details but you can read about them on his website. Stetson has lent his talents to The Arcade Fire, Tom Waits, Bon Iver and others.

Later, I found this unofficial fan video of one of his songs that uses clips from Jean Luc Goodard’s Film Socialisme. A good fit, I thought.

Marcus Rosentrater is an Atlanta-based filmmaker and agent provocateur for Contraband Cinema. You can follow him on the twitters @maurcs.