Soundtracking endeavours: Jialat Sian.
A chat with Floris Bates & Jurgen Wielart, Yannick Tindbergen, Dandelion Cure, Alexis Gautier and The Midnight Tantrum.
Jialat Sian was a concept I came up with back in April 2020 after my dad sent me a video from Singapore he took whilst in quarantine. The beautiful sight contrasting with Neo-futuristic architecture, apocalyptic sun with rain that can only be described as dismal gave me the idea to invite friends of mine to individually make a soundtrack based on their own interpretation of this short video. Coming from different musical backgrounds and cultural upbringing resulted in a unique perception of this footage, resulting in something original albeit correlating in atmosphere.
Jialat Sian are Singlish words derived from the Hokkien dialect. Its meaning translates to “being tired/bored of being drained from one's energy”, which felt like an appropriate title considering the isolation, location and global situation at the time.
Floris Bates is a reverb pop songwriter/visual artist from Haarlem, Holland. Floris has been making music for longer than we know of, and probably longer than he can remember himself. From composing a solo classical piano opus in six parts when he was a teenager, to minimalist electronic pieces and dark industrial foolishness, to lo-fi bedroom pop culture referenced serenades full of themes regarding emo vulnerability, medication abuse and sexual frustration, Floris has done it all. The Interlace is a classical minimal track written and recorded in Logic featuring his roommate Jurgen Wielart on the cello. In this track, different transitions of regularly played notes into overtone notes (flageolet) are explored through the playing of a broken Cminor7 chord.
“I guess I was just looking for an excuse to use a cello. Looking at the Interlace gave me a desire to keep the piece in a geometrical form with square like patterns. I find that writing scores is a lot like architecture. So I wanted to approach it in that way by keeping a sturdy frame. To achieve this, I used a lot of fifth harmonies to have a strong base of a chord frame. From there, I just layered it with textures and mutations from that chord, all whilst keeping it straight, square and simple. You can hear the changing of the motive into an overtone motive as like a room which resonates with a certain frequency.”
-Floris Bates, 15.07.2021.
Buried somewhere deep inside that famed house in Haarlem is Grundo's treasure. Treasure of Grundo has had many different member configurations since its genesis and is now back to its original form, just Yannick in a room full of synthesizers. The name came from the eighties cartoon Teddy Ruxpin, Grundo being the name of the fictional land the show is set in. The fictitious word became a music genre description in itself for the type of music you can expect; atmospheric sounds; dark and even slightly danceable songs. It’s a bit of new wave, synthpop, experimental and ambient.
“Treasure of Grundo is normally focussed on synthesizers and drum computers, but for this track, only guitar pedals and a drum kit were used. Not a normal amount of pedals though; the signal went through around 80 pedals. This setup then could be described as a sort of synthesizer, just a very idiotic one, 2 m2 in size. The intent and thought behind this hardware setup was to make something cinematic and ambient. The real challenge came from keeping all of the audio from feedbacking out of control. The final result is a stacked compilation from a 20 minute recording, automated and squished to a drone, with added room-mic-ed acoustic drums. The footage used for Jialat Sian felt tonaly ambiguous yet somewhat specific in nature, so in further relation to the equipment used, the track title “Arrays” seemed appropriate.”
-Yannick Tindbergen. 15.07.2021.
Photo credits: @xiexiecoco
Dandelion Cure is the brainchild of Dimitri Sinitzki, and was started as a solo bedroom idea in Haarlem, 2015. More of a mental outlet than a clearly defined concept, the project isn’t bound by the limitations of style or genre but rather evolves and pulsates as seems appropriate in regards to instrumentation. Going from echoed and fuzzed guitar songwriting to minimalistic electronic ambiances amongst droned saxophone experiments, the sound of Dandelion Cure travels in a soul-searching motion, all the while staying true to Sinitzki’s deeply rooted foundation in psychedelia.
“The writing of sec was a fortunate coincidence between the ethereal character of the looped Singaporean rain video and my wanting to make some dark jazz-influenced sounds with the electric piano as basis. I had this chord progression for a while but hadn’t really gotten to anchoring it in regards to texture. I also had the root of the melody, though it was largely improvised upon during recording. For the rest of the instrumentation, the soul of the video with its almost saturated backlighting provided a fertile ground for the idea to develop. The looping element also gave me a structure to work towards. I am highly influenced by images and writing music to a visual foundation often helps me to ground my thoughts.”
-Dimitri Sinitzki. 15.07.2021.
Photo credits: @navyinfrench
Finding his origins in immersive game and simulation audio, Alexis Gautier now creates in various genres such as ambient, techno and drum and bass. Growing up travelling Asia and now settling near the beaches of Nice, he has found his roots in dark techno and contemplative soundscapes.
"Having been immersed in techno over the passed months, I wanted to find another use for my rhythmic elements such as the kick to create an ambient soundscape using elements I would usually use to lead the track. Here you will listen to my attempt at creating a Tangerine Dream like mood with the modern approach of techno track structures."
-Alexis Gautier. 15.07.2021.
Photo credits: @pedrampourghasem
Coming from a punk and hardcore background, Patou has been making odd, out-of-step electronic music under the alias The Midnight Tantrum for a few years. Influenced by techno and noise, Patou’s amalgamated interpretation of his clubbing experiences has resulted in crushed beats, mangled vocals on tape loops and saturated synthesiser sequences. Inspired by horror movie and video game soundtracks has then turned into an amalgamation of anxiety and anger driven music.
"I have not returned to Singapore for nearly a decade now. Having spent six of my teenage years there, the sounds, smells and sights are starting to blur out, albeit still linger in my mind as a dream would. So this project was interesting because it allowed me to dig into my subconscious in remembering the surroundings that were once part of my daily life. The usage of sounds were inspired by the soundtrack from the dystopian/cyberpunk movie Akira, which I guess the sceneries of architecture from that film at times share similarities with The Interlace. The festival season during the Chinese new year was also a point of reference that inspired me sound wise. The percussions are suppose to resemble firecrackers, whilst the distorted, saturated beats; the hot humid sun. Finally the pads/stabs were supposed to be the soothing warm, thick tropical rain and humidity. All of it was pretty atonal and at times in the wrong pitch, notably the cymbals. But I did this because I wanted it to be sonically ambiguous as my memory of my time there slowly starting to blur."
-Patou. 15.07.2021.