7. Joan La BarbaraVoice Is The Original Instrument
You have a song called ‘Joan’ on your album, The Flower and the Vessel – is this a dedication to her?
Yes, it was to both her and Joan Didion, a kind of imaginary person that would be those two women. Often when I think about someone, it is overlapped with someone else.
I really like to listen to her talking about her work. I was hesitating between this and Three Voices, and I decided to pick this one. Sometimes, I find it really difficult to listen to it, it really gets on my nerves. But at the same time, to me, it’s like a sculpture with sharp edges. Sometimes, you have to stay at a distance to it, but it doesn’t mean you’re not attracted to it. It’s just that you don’t want to catch yourself being too close to those sharp edges. She did so many collaborations, she put her thinking into practise, and that’s something I really admire.
I also like the idea of extending the circulation of the breathing device as being a kind of material, almost a paste, something that is really close to art. I also like the relationship to time in her work that is really connected with performance, because it’s mostly a performance before being a recorded piece.
