Songs for Sad Poets Vol. III

On the third installment of their Songs for Sad Poets project, Iranian composer Siavash Amini and American author Eugene Thacker present us with lyrics sung by voices, but which are unrecognizable as words – and unintelligible even as voices. Song and sound implode and become indistinguishable from each other, creating something that reverberates with the tradition of “cursed poets” (potes maudits) that is the inspiration for the project as a whole. Writing for chorus, Thacker’s compressed poetry allows words to undergo sonic transformations. Similarly, Amini draws on a wide range of techniques (including the use of voice synthesis software), to transform Thacker’s minimalist poetry into spectral and haunting soundscapes. The result are at once diffuse and unsettling, lyrical and abstract.