Pierre Ouellet & Jim MacDonald
Living Memory follows a more contemporary and immediate musical intuition in the creation of songs and soundscapes which appear, on the surface, as yet another mass–market artifact produced to garner some degree of mass appeal.
The notion of living memory itself speaks to our embodied experience and the lifeworld that sustains our spirit and self through this sensual journey that we call life. It reminds us, in the most fundamental manner and beyond consciousness itself, of that which was and that which may be again. It is the matter of dreams. But it also the canvas upon which our fears and despair are projected.
The work of memory collapses time. Walter Benjamin
The intention of the project is to expand the potential of pre-established genres and motifs in popular musical culture and create pieces whose surface appeal are exceeded by the depth of execution only revealed in successive listening experiences. Each musical piece highlights the special attention paid by the composers to the creation of unique sonic timbres, patterns and harmonies which exist the tensile structures of the compositions themselves. Rather than relying on the generic repetitive gestures intrinsic to pop media, each piece in Living Memory unfolds as a study in sonic transformation and evolution, aural painting over the time and space of existence itself.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
T.S. Eliot
The mystery of reflected surfaces whispers to what is hidden, just beyond our grasp, untouchable yet available if we dare only transgress and enter, in the hopes of transformation, renewal, perhaps even rebirth. It is the mirror of our desires, our appetites, our unconscious longings, a deep reflection of the illusions of self remembering Other.
Songs
1 – Pharaoh’s Dream (4:42) 2 – The Illusion of Time (6:22) 3 – Ice Age (3:23)
4 – Living Memory (6:49) 5 – Far Journey (4:14) 6 – First Love (6:37)
7 – A World Beyond (3:52) 8 – Dream Time (3:19) 9 – Here and There (3:22)
10 – Inner Paths (3:59)
Memory itself is an internal rumour.
George Santayana, The Life of Reason
Production Credits
All compositions by Pierre Ouellet & Jim MacDonald
Published by Venture Publishing (2014)
Recorded, mixed and mastered at Venture Studio Toronto (2019)
Album Art and Design by Catherine Piro
Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it. Michel de Montaigne
This album is dedicated to the memory of my father Henri, my son Philippe and my dear friend Selwyn. I think of you everyday and, in this moment, I honour your living memory.
