Unseen Landscapes [Pure DSD]

“I have been experimenting with music, playing with different sounds and effects for more than twenty years. I remember the first time I tried out an octave in the rehearsal room of an abandoned factory building, attached to my violin for the first time in my life. It was incredible to me how inspiring it was just to hear my instrument an octave lower. I was completely sucked in by the practice, the change in timbre made me think of new melodies and rhythms. Later on, in my trio, I was looking for new timbres, among other things, so that the violin could not only be a solo instrument, but also perform other functions, so that I could accompany it, and I wanted the sound to be more exciting and colourful. So I started to use an overdrive, delay, pitch shifter, terra echo, and a looper. This set up was now capable of creating a full orchestral sound, or I could add subtle colours, noises and atmospheric layers to colour the sound of the trio.

Later on, in solo performances and concerts, I gave more and more room to free improvisation, in addition to written compositions. I felt that music could not express itself more honestly and directly through me. When sounds are being born, when they are being created, there is nothing but the here and now. It is then that I am closest to the creative force that I am trying to convey with my instrument. This is similar to the way I paint – also improvised – my method, state of mind and emotion, the image evolves and changes as I respond to it. When sharing my images online, my favourite hashtag is “secret places in my mind”. With my paintings and music, I seek out the undiscovered places of my thoughts and feelings, I wander around them, these are the places I like to be. It’s an exciting and a bit risky journey…

The idea for the recording came about after my solo concert at the Kiezsalon festival in Berlin, and I hadn’t originally thought of releasing an album, I just wanted to record the more abstract sound, musical style and structure that the Berlin audience could hear after the release of my first studio album. At that concert, I felt a kind of very intense attention, which was very inspiring in itself, and the feedback was soul-stirring, somehow everyone was overcome by a joy that took me by surprise. After I came back, the plan to make a record of the recording was soon formed. The studio concert as a genre was a very good medium for Unseen Landscapes, and the love and attention of the small audience contributed greatly to the content of the album. Meanwhile, in the spring I had the opportunity to have a solo exhibition in a gallery in Buda in the autumn. This opportunity was also very inspiring, it was exciting to put together a coherent body of work over the months. Before I started painting three years ago, I took photos – two exhibitions were put together from my images – albeit only with my phone and while running, my subject was nature with a kind of fairy-tale filter. In that sense, the subject is the same now, but this time I’m showing landscapes that you couldn’t otherwise see. So the record and the pictures were made at the same time, impressions of the same point of view, formed by different means. I basically paint abstract landscapes, I feel the plate and the images correlate, slowly building strong moods, mysteries, abstract transformations, expansive horizons.”

Luca Kézdy – violin