I was asked to direct the following straight to film (thank you Scandemic!) It's a circa 6 minute new 'mini opera' (or rather a standalone aria that is still a world entire to itself).
I kept my thoughts to myself whilst making this project with the company and team involved, (don't you just love collaborating with people muted and muzzled by masks!) but the more I worked on it the more it seemed - through the use of metaphor and implicit psychological trauma - to capture something of the prevailing yet unspoken state of being that I suspect many people out there are unconsciously carrying as they face up to the end of 2020 and into the unknown beyond. It was one of 20 such pieces in the whole project but somehow I know why I ended up with this one!
The music may not be everyone's cup of tea (its not pretty or soothing for sure!) but I think its gripping and wholly appropriate to the landscape it portrays. And as a mirror into our time, the lyrics are strangely prescient and revealing... e.g. for bridle read Programming/Predator's Mind...!
Anyway, I thought I'd share. Thanks to this forum I don't think this character's implicit turmoil and fate awaits anyone here! But for those not in the know.....
The waters keep rising...
I kept my thoughts to myself whilst making this project with the company and team involved, (don't you just love collaborating with people muted and muzzled by masks!) but the more I worked on it the more it seemed - through the use of metaphor and implicit psychological trauma - to capture something of the prevailing yet unspoken state of being that I suspect many people out there are unconsciously carrying as they face up to the end of 2020 and into the unknown beyond. It was one of 20 such pieces in the whole project but somehow I know why I ended up with this one!
The music may not be everyone's cup of tea (its not pretty or soothing for sure!) but I think its gripping and wholly appropriate to the landscape it portrays. And as a mirror into our time, the lyrics are strangely prescient and revealing... e.g. for bridle read Programming/Predator's Mind...!
Anyway, I thought I'd share. Thanks to this forum I don't think this character's implicit turmoil and fate awaits anyone here! But for those not in the know.....
The waters keep rising...
The Wait
I saw a horse drown this morning.
From my upstairs window.
They’d tied it in the yard next door.
And then left it when the waters came.
And such a picture it made.
Churning up the flood.
Throwing its head violently
Trying to keep it above
The torrent that was rising
But held fast by its bridle
It couldn’t break free
And tumbled through water
Getting caught up further
And pulling its snout under
The legs kicking out
But the fight leaving it
The flickering pulse
Ticking down…
The poor creature
Until still
And then…
Nothing…
And the water keeps rising
I hear it lapping on the stairs
And the water keeps rising
Rainfall incessant
Keeps rising
Keeps rising
And I am here myself
And I am here
And I am here
I am still…
Still here.
Still here.
Still…
Still waiting.