JACQUES SODDELL
sound art | video art
performance | installation
sound design
REVIEWS & ARTICLES
M: Kaddish for the Children (2019)
“These are supported, enhanced and enriched by an exquisite soundscape created by Jacques Soddell”
Suzanne Sandow. Stage Whispers
http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/m-
The Dead Twin (2017)
(Geaorge Town Festival, Malaysia)
The Dead Twin held at The Whiteaways Arcade is a site specific horror and was quite compelling. Requiring us to follow its 5 actors around different rooms as the story unfolded, it tells the unravelling of a family haunted by the death of its son/twin brother.
The eerie soundtrack, minimalist setting and sparing approach to tying up loose ends was brilliant at creating a sense of unease, and the dread I was left with at the end wasn’t just from having to hastily leave before properly applauding the Australian ensemble’s effort, but from the incredibly unsettling final scene. Scarereee-
https://pokokkelapa.wordpress.com/
The Dead Twin (2015)
“The boat ride is complemented by an equally eerie soundscape (accompanied by the thrum of the boat’s engine). Jacques Soddell’s great skill as a sound designer is apparent in the iridescent tone his work adds to the journey. Sound plays a major role throughout the piece: at times it sits under the dialogue, supporting the characters and emphasising the simmering tension. But at other times it bursts to the surface, unsettling the space before falling into a new rhythm. Soddell is masterful, his work is definitely one of the highlights of the play.”
http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/the-
“A chilling onstage experience that combines beautifully distorted imagery with a spectacular soundtrack” http://performing.artshub.com.au/news-
http://peril.com.au/featured/review-
http://www.planetartsmelb.com/120104
http://www.au.timeout.com/Melbourne/theatre/events/15452/the-
http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/dead-
Animation Festival (2014)
http://www.troublemag.com/undue-
Silence of the LAMBS (2012)
My contribution to the group show Dark Matter, Dark Energy at Stockroom Gallery. Kyneton.
“Jacques knows how to manipulate vibration, how to make sound a spatial material. Stand in different parts of the gallery and you'll get a different physical feeling caused by his sounds. He is technically minded and the thoughts behind his work are compelling. ..... WARNING: low frequencies occur.” From Kent Wilson's curator's essay for the exhibition. http://stockroomonpiper.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-
Frozen Moment (2011)
“Jacques Soddell manages to build an impressive mass of sound that mutates into different forms occurring in different spaces but that is always perceived as a unit. A remarkable aspect to ‘Frozen moment’ is how every sound seems to occur in a complete different space: every layer of sound is isolated from the next one creating an impressive sense of ‘parallel simultaneity’ on every given moment. …... Frozen moment’ is a compelling release that shows that musique concrete is as valid, pertinent and unexplored as any other line of work, where new and pre-
“Soddell crafted an excellent, intense piece, or perhaps 'flow' is a better word, from small events at the beginning, then a first wave, small sounds and then a major wave, resulting in small scale events at the end. Ice does make waves, dangerous waves at that, and Soddell tells the whole story. Quite a cinematic soundscape.” from review by FdW in Vital Weekly 792.
http://www.vitalweekly.net/792.html
[DATA #12] (2010)
A collaboration between Jacques Soddell & Cedric Peyronnet derived from their live performances
“a very fine piece of music, with some interesting moves and a fresh approach to field recordings in a live context.” review by FdW, Vital Weekly 748 http://www.vitalweekly.net/748.htm
Liquid Architecture performances (2008)
Melbourne was 4 channel; Sydney was stereo + video improv.
“Making effective use of the multi-
http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue87/9196
“Not all the visuals had to be imagined. Jacques Soddell opened with video impressions of a face, shifting in and out of perception accompanied by liquid static. Big, rich sustained tones drive us through beautifully framed tunnels and telegraph lines, followed by an aggressive overload of interference laden, cutup media images and the sound equivalent of dirty pointillism. Besides the ‘meaningful’ conclusion (the image of a church altar), Soddell on the whole walks a fine line between abstraction and narrative which complements his sound explorations. “ Review of Liquid Architecture 9, Sydney by Gail Priest http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue87/9198
Jodi Rose: Singing Bridges -
"The second disc of remixes of these sounds features some incredible, though initially almost inaudible work from Francisco Lopez, and jangly dramatic drone work from Jacques Soddell amongst some other more traditionally structured electro responses." -
The Shed (2005)
“The sparse, sharp and localised lighting and the superb soundscape—generating experiences of isolation (the silence of the shed), the natural environment, threat and sometimes the release of dream—help to translate the ‘realness’ of the story into the territory of the mysterious and the resonant. …..... The short movie (by Paul Fletcher) takes elements of the Australian landscape (a shed, a fence, a tractor, a sunset) and abstracts them into a shifting collage of light and colour underscored by a soundscape that I can only describe as like the recording of electrical and chemical reactions in the brain.“ From review by Paul Monahan in Realtime. http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue71/8040
The Piano Room (2005)
“Soddell’s exhibition, The Piano Room, originated in the history of the store’s piano room. In a partly archival presentation it documents the movement of the piano from its status as a universal domestic object through to its modernist reworkings. The Piano Room references John Cage’s 4’33”, prepared piano and the Fluxus movement (especially George Macuinas, La Monte Young, George Brecht, Giuseppe Chiari). Documents of the Fluxus movement are accompanied by a small video work which shows Sonic Youth dismembering the keyboard of a piano, and the immortal image of the little boy playing in the Dr Seuss tale 5000 fingers of Dr T. These capture the theatricality and anxiety that a piano can generate as a monolithic instrument that has to be mastered, even defeated.
In another section of the space a delightful work engages the audience. As an interactive tribute to Baranoff-
In a corner, music faintly emanates from a shopping bag containing baguette and book. Soddell’s deconstruction of Claude Debussy’s Hommage to Rameau is a captivating, quietly, poetic sound installation that demands attention to the internal nature of music and the way it travels with us in the everyday. The subtle interplay of sounds throughout Soddell’s exhibition brought past and present together, our understanding of music today heightened by echoes from the past.” From review by Tara Gilbee in Realtime
http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue68/7953
Neon Fog (2000)
"lovely microscopic, organic electronics (no surprise that Jacques is a microbiologist). Reminds me a bit of Dorobo's more ambient music." Shannon O'Neill, Furthermore, 2MBS (Sydney, 2000)