Alex Murray
(Australia)

“This year I thought a lot about what it means to leave behind the major Western centres of culture production to reside in Eastern Europe. I thought about what positive communality exists in dense international cities but also the economic/mental sacrifices needed to survive, just to be close to the information trade and commercial art world. To work things through, I thought I’d one-up the system, buy a car and drive around the Balkans composing a Spaghetti Western soundtrack to an imaginary film that played in my head. Being alien to the lived historical complexities and traditions of this region, I observe as an outsider, as a mercenary equipped with a station wagon, an appetite for various char-grilled meats and a desire to live outside of the current capitalist framework imposed upon us. The samples you hear are a few of the soundtrack’s movements. They are a collage of sound foley, orchestral sample libraries and other sound experimentations. The finished work is coming out on SUMAC label this year.”