Cargo Records

Vivian & Ondine

In may of 2008 I was in my studio in NY preparing for a concert at Issue Project Room. I realized I had been touring for a year and was still touring the same piece I had performed there the year before. I was interrupted by a call from my youngest brother, Patrick. As we chatted, he told me that his wife, andrea was overdue with their daughter, Vivian. I replied in sympathy that “Vivian” was a movie-star name and that I imagined with a name like that, she would have people waiting on her for her entire life. I got back to work and found yet another lunchbox of ancient tape-loops to go through for possible inclusion in the new piece. I came across the main theme and thought…well, this is gorgeous; let’s see if we can use this to coax Viv to come out. I went through the rest of them and found another dozen or so that mixed well used randomly, just under the threshold.

The next night I performed the piece at Issue with their 16 channel hemispherical speaker system set to move the sounds randomly around the room as if waves in a pool.  We all had a really good time.  It was mesmerizing. The next day I got word that Vivian had been born and…my cousin, Terence’s first granddaughter, Ondine had been born as well. I couldn’t think of a more beautiful title for this piece than to name it after these two beautiful girls.This version was recorded with microphones and two Norelco tape decks live in my studio in Los Angeles in one take in September 2008. A version of this piece was commissioned by Lauren Bon and the Metabolic Studio of Los Angeles for her extraordinary project, Strawberry Flag, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles. It has been an honor to be a part of this wonderful project. 

Vivian & Ondine info & mp3 excerpt:  http://www.mmlxii.com,   http://www.myspace.com/williambasinski

info: Strawberry Flag Project:  http://www.strawberryflag.org