[ebooks] Louisiana's Zydeco (Images of America) by Sherry T. Broussard in Arts-Photography

Description

Words like "inspiring;" "expansive;" and "moving" are regularly used to describe Sigur Roacute;ss ( ); and yet the only words heard on the record itself are a handful of meaningless nonsense syllables. The album has no title-or rather; its title is no title: just an empty pair of parentheses. The intention being that listeners will fill in the parentheses with their own title; their own interpretation of the sounds on the record. The CD sleeve consists of twelve pages that are essentially blank; lacking song titles; liner notes or production credits. Instead; it contains only semi-translucent frosted images of abstract natural scenes (tree branches; clouds; etc.); on which the listener is free to inscribe their own notes-or no notes at all. And then there are the lyrics; sung in a deliberately unintelligible tongue called "Hopelandic" which the band invites listeners to interpret freely.Ethan Haydens book doesnt try to fill in the gaps between the albums parentheses; but instead explores the ways in which listeners might attempt to do so. Examining the communicative powers of asemantic language; the book asks whether music can bring sense to nonsense. What happens to the voice when it stops singing conventional language: does it simply become another musical instrument; or is it somehow more "human"? What role does space play on ( )? And how do we interpret music that we cannot possibly understand; but feel very deeply that we do?