Notes on "Detritus" by Sarah Neufeld

 

(This is a bit of an experiment, something new I've decided to try here on the old blog. I tend to write extensive, stream-of-consciousness notes when I listen to most of the music we discuss on our show. Sometimes I refer to these notes quite a bit when we record, and sometimes I just take bits and pieces from my notes because it's not necessary to dump a load of haphazard information into our podcast. However, I do believe that on occasion there may be some worthwhile material within my notes that I'm unable to share during our recording sessions for one reason or another, so I'm taking this as an opportunity to do just that, sharing my slightly abbreviated notes for Sarah Neufeld's 2020 album Detritus, which we discussed on a recent episode that I will embed at the bottom of this page, along with a link to listen to the album Detritus in its entirety via Bandcamp, Cheers! -Dustin)

Detritus, the 2020 solo album from mutli-talented musician Sarah Neufeld, was born from a collaboration with legendary choreographer Peggy Baker. They first met in 2015 and this sparked a collaboration which culminated in a full-length stage show for Baker’s company in 2019 entitled Who We Are In The Dark, for which Neufeld composed and performed a new suite of music. Neufeld later expanded upon and reworked the music from this stage show to create Detritus, collaborating with fellow Arcade Fire alum Jeremy Gara on percussion, as well as Bell Orchestre member Pietro Amato on French Horn, and flautist Stuart Bogie. The album was finished in February of 2020. 

Detritus explores themes of loss and desolation and struggle, invoking a darkness and sadness that permeates the entire work, but this darkness is not overwhelming. There is room for beauty and grace and hope within the world of Detritus, from its elegiac overture in Stories to the vast, cosmic emptiness conjured by the title track, light trickles in between the cracks, pushing back the shadows for a little while. Detritus is dead organic matter, rotting away and serving as a host for bacteria and other microorganisms that further break it all down, creating a fertile foundation from which new life can bloom. It’s a perfect name for this album, which wrestles with the grief and pain that death can bring, as well as the renewal that can arise from tragedy, evoking the cycles of life and death, of birth and rebirth, with hope springing eternal from the bitter soil of despair. 

What Sarah Neufeld has conjured in Detritus is nothing short of magic. It is mesmerizing and haunting, intricate and beautiful and uplifting. It's easy to get lost in the labyrinthine realms conjured by this music, and one may really have to do so in order to get the most out of this often challenging work. So immerse yourself in the melancholic beauty of Detritus for a while, and it will remain with you for the rest of your life. 

"I was inspired by both a sense of interior aloneness, and a sense of deep intimacy; within both, a profound questioning of identity and intention, and ultimately, a grieving over one's former sense of self. The stories we've told ourselves that we can no longer believe. Nestled within deep lavers of comfort, familiarity, and solace, I'm able to repeat myself again and again, never learning, never looking back. Simultaneously becoming wiser and more ignorant as the years wind on, beauty and grace exist even here, in this rift.“ -Sarah Neufeld

STORIES

A violin calls out through cavernous space. Mournful. Sunrise, perhaps, but a cold light shining through, illuminating regret and sadness. Dawn breaking over a cemetery. The wordless vocals drift into the droning melody, beauty and solace for the broken, a comforting hand on the shoulder burdened with grief. Ethereal grace. Warmth trickles in. A gentle crescendo. 

THE TOP

Circular violin motif, revolutions, like a spinning top. A dog chasing their own tail, or the endless cycle of day and night, death and birth played out in anxious melody. The melody grows and evolves as it revolves, but remains recognizable throughout. Reincarnation. Old souls hidden behind new eyes. This track could just as easily have been called The Wheel for what it represents. 

"The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again." -Robert Jordan

TUMBLE DOWN THE UNDECIDED 

A journey. A chase. Cinematic, widescreen music. It actually evokes images of the climactic chase of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in my mind, with the vampire hunters chasing down the Count’s coach in a desperate bid to slay the monster before the sun sets and all their work will be for naught. The energy builds until the storm finally breaks and the pace becomes unrelenting. The bass drum keeps the beat, the spine of the whole piece, holding everything together. We feel every step of this frantic journey overland, feeling the desperation of the pursued radiating through as they steal glances over their shoulders to note the progress of their pursuers. How long can they hold out? Is salvation around the next bend, or is it damnation? 

A crash opens up the world at 4 minutes. The constant bass drum like a beating heart. Overcoming insurmountable odds in the end, a ray of hope to combat the darkness in its final third. Heroism and grace defeating nihilism and despair in an explosion of strings and percussion. An epic fantasy climax, exuberant and gorgeous in its impeccable storytelling. Over nine minutes long and it breezes by in a flash. Deep bass drone over the last thirty seconds, the power of the faded melody reverberating through the ages. 

SHED YOUR DEAR HEART

A more thoughtful and melancholy counterpart to the previous track. The denouement, perhaps. We mourn and honor our fallen. Great fires banish the darkness around us as we recall their words and deeds. We toast their lives and bid them Godspeed on their final journey.  We grieve but we also rejoice, for although they are gone, they once lived, and the world is a better place for that. The loss is real, immediate and it cuts like a knife. But only through grief can any healing begin. 

DETRITUS

Drifting through the void. Overcome by the all-encompassing vastness of space and time, humbled by your insignificance in the face of eternity. I see an untethered astronaut tumbling through the cosmos, their oxygen supply dwindling, coming to terms with their end as the stars sweep by. When the end does come, and they drift off to that sleep from which they will never awaken, will they know the difference between the totality of the void they will face then and the one they face now? Or are they one and the same? Contemplative and beautiful.