Alex Somers reimagines Hatis Noit’s ethereal piece ‘Angelus Novus’
Following contributions from New York hip-hop duo Armand Hammer, L.A.-based avant-garde composer William Basinski, legendary London producer Matthew Herbert and ambient godfather Laraaji, Hatis Noit’s Aura Reworks series continues with American composer Alex Somers and his haunting reimagination of her piece Angelus Novus.
“When my father passed away, I traveled through the snowy landscapes of Hokkaido, visiting to identify his dead body and searching for traces of his life… It was a solitary journey to uncover the essence of someone I barely knew in my life. During the trip, the music from ‘Riceboy Sleeps’, created by Jónsi & Alex led me beyond simple grief and longing for an attainable love, into a calm landscape of unknown memory as if the music was in response to the stormy white-out landscape before my eyes. Over a decade later, having Alex rework ‘Angelus Novus’, which reflects both the struggles and the healing of life, feels deeply fateful to me.” — Hatis Noit
- listen to the new rework
- (re)discover Aura
“Voice is the most immediate instrument we have. When I first listened to Hatis Noit’s ‘Angelus Novus’, I was drawn towards the outro that features layers of voice hanging like fog. I wanted to live in that world and make a new song from that starting place. After looping that movement of the original piece, I started to hear ways I could fracture the vocal layers into new splinters of sound. I created a harsh collage of all the vocal textures, resampled them and started adding new harmonies to what was there. Soon I started hearing chords underneath the vocal collage so I slowly wrote and recorded a passage of low register sub bass chords to underpin the whole environment. Last but not least, I slowed down the entire song by three semitones. I love varispeed, it’s my favorite way to bend something from the familiar to the less familiar. Thank you for listening! Love,” – Alex Somers
