Problèmes de Communication

Problèmes de Communication

Problèmes de Communication make music for films. The movies we work with are silent movies. The music is performed live while the movie is shown.

The premise for our work is that music and film are of equal inportance so that both elements act as one united artistic statement. The music is not only underpinning the movie and the movie is not just a backdrop for a musical performance. It is common knowledge that music and sound has a profound impact on the way that we perceive moving images. The fact that the music is performed live and therefore changes every time, enables us to accentuate different aspects of the film. The images of the movie and the reaction of the audience influence the musicians to alter dynamics and mood according to these circumstances.

No sleep 'til Norberg

The following is a review of one of our shows. Norberg Festival 2005. It is written by Mattias Svensson of Fat Bankroll:

“Unexpectedly the highlight of the festival was when “Problèmes De Communication” played live to an old silent movie. An event which sounded so arty on paper that I nearly passed on it. It turned out to be an amazing concert which peaked in moments of krautrock-like jamming with guitar, bass, organ, flute and a laptop. The latter was scarcely used as part of the soundtrack, something that other laptoppers could learn from. During the concert, the organ was smashed to pieces with a sledgehammer, which was more punk and a better show than all the laptop artists at the festival were able to pull off, had they tried.”

Recent and earlier work

“Häxan” (1922) by Benjamin Christensen.
A documentary about the history of witchcraft, told in a variety of styles, from illustrated slideshow to dramatised events of alleged real-life events, right up to the early twentieth century (plot sumary from IMDB).
August 2008 we tour Canada with music for “Häxan”. Below is a short excerpt:

“Emak-Bakia” (1926) by Man Ray and “Un Chien Andalou” (1929) by Bunuel/Dali.
Recently (2007-2008) we have worked with these two surreal masterpieces by Man Ray and Bunuel/Dali.

“Meshes Of The Afternoon” (1943) and “Witches Cradle” (1943) by Maya Deren and Marcel Duchamp.
For an event as part of an arts festival in our hometown Arhus, Denmark, we made music for two Maya Deren movies during the summer of 2005.

“Sunrise – A Song Of Two Humans” (1927) by F.W. Murnau.
As part of arts festival ”Kulturama 2005” in Aarhus, Denmark, we were asked to compose new music for Murnau's movie and perform it live. We were one of three ensembles that were given this particular musical challenge to shine a new light on ”Sunrise”. The other participants were a classical ensemble and a choir. Below is a short excerpt:

In the summer of 2005 we performed “Sunrise” at Norberg Festival – an electronic music festival in the town of Norberg, Sweden. We played in Mimer – an old abandoned iron ore shaft. A very unconventional stage situated in a decaying industrial environment.

“Aarhus-Symfoni” (2007) by Problèmes de Communication.
It is a modern and abstract reworking of ”Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt” (1927) by Walter Ruttman. ”Aarhus-Symfoni” is a site-specific piece, a symphony of music and images of the city of Aarhus, Denmark. The video mixing and the music is performed live. It enables us to improvise, which makes audio and video fuse together in a different way every time.