imprográfika

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A Few Thoughts on CYCLOPS II (IMMERSION / ABYSSE) by Nikos Sotirelis

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Petra Kapš writes a poem for the musical composition of Nikos Sotirelis’ CYCLOPS II. With two pieces IMMERSION and ABYSSE Sotirelis interprets the sounds and clicks that were caught by the sonar, hydrophones and radio transmitters from the lost submarine Titan of Oceangate in June 2023.

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Listen here and read below:

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The whispers of the ocean depths seduce us intensely and instantly, transporting us to a primordial state of pure potentiality, to a crevice where our being connects with the multifaceted nature of existence. A descent to the Moon or to the ocean’s floor is, in either case, a deep dive into our roots and the possibilities of tapping into internal seas and cosmic realms. CYCLOPS II feels like a diptych of depth, the tip of a vortex, drawing us down into the aquatic archetype. IMMERSION / ABYSSE—this slowly evolving sonic texture—revolves around the mystery and the eternal human longing to transcend its own limits, building technological shells around the human, mortal, and vulnerable body, carrying it beyond Earth’s gravity, into the depths of space and the planet, where one of the edges of the mystery continually manifests as an unyielding boundary. The deeper we journey, the more the voices, woven into the eternal echo, seem to carry meaning—or at least, so it seems to our listening souls, caught in the illusion of physis.

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IMMERSION captures and holds us in the sensation of descending into the depths. The percussion intriguingly embodies the sound of a submersible, where subtle scrapes, pops, and groans bend natural sounds, creating fleeting sensations or images, a kind of cinematic illusion of a floating object’s gravity and pressure—a persistent and unstoppable descent into the depths, into the unknown. The distant timbres of the wind instruments, elusive to our ears, evoke the calls of creatures from the ocean’s abyss. The surrounding darkness and diffuse spatiality take on the essence of echolocation. What begins as a vibrant, dense flux of voices, pulsing and punctuated by distortions, gradually unfolds into a watery, slow-moving soundscape that expands in every direction, like a deep-sea current spreading through the unknown. Electronic instruments, subtle drumming, and the dissolving whispers of wind instruments, interwoven with hydro-sonority, shift imperceptibly, where endings constantly drift away, unexpectedly extending and reverberating in softly changing modulations. We definitely lose our fixed modalities of self in this enigmatic aquatic signal – sonic musical work.

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ABYSSE plunges us into a profound sensation of flowing substances—electronic pulses, percussive whispers, drums, and the breath of wind instruments—all interlaced with the persistent presence of hydrophone recordings. These recordings anchor the composition, serving as an auditory tether that guides us as we descend through deep resonant chambers, continually drawing us away from the familiar. Slowly, sensations whirl and merge, conjuring an enigmatic fusion of electro-acoustic experimentation that sometimes unfolds into silence. Nikos Sotirelis, with profound artistry, weaves together acoustic instruments, electronics, modular synths, ghostly tones, and the elusive echoes of underwater sonars into a richly evocative and contemporary experimental masterpiece. The continuous, delicate allure that weaves through the entire composition forges an extraordinary abstract sonic metamorphosis—an enigmatic soundscape where we trace fleeting threads of recognition amid the never-before-heard echoes, emerging from the depths of creative magnetism.

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At the end, traces vanish, leaving behind an enduring enigma. A new kind of journey begins. Diptych CYCLOPS II invites ongoing exploration, where each cycle reveals new layers and varied punctuations emerge from the interplay between the listener’s imaginative feedback loop and the essence of CYCLOPS II.

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Petra Kapš

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Listen here and find out more on Nebuki and Nikos Sotirelis here

Other articles on sound traces: Drawing as a musical performance. #graphic #concert