All tracks written & performed by Video Blue.
Recorded in Jim's flat in Hackney, London and in quarantine in Tara Hill, Co. Wexford, Ireland between October 2020 and January 2021.
Video Blue is Jim O'Donoghue Martin
Having first read Bauby's extraordinary story of process and endurance a decade ago whilst a student at Art college, I picked up a paperback copy in-between lockdowns in the Summer of 2020.
Upon revisiting, I was taken by how uplifting and spirited this great book is.
It's themes of perseverance, sense of place, reflection, separation and anxiety resonated strongly with me.
A story of the vast potential and magic of the human mind in a locked-in state, unwittingly became an essential lockdown-read.
There was so much detail within which demanded sonic exploration:
Certain chapters, either conjuring Bauby's memories or present struggles, suggested a meditative ambient soundscape.
Movement and machinations within the book, the sounds of the equipment keeping him alive, became touchpoints also.
Being a fan of nightwalking myself, I had not remembered his own recollection of nocturnal rambles through Lourdes in the chapter 'Our Very Own Madonna'.
The recordings were made between two places; in my Hackney flat and in a house in Co. Wexford, Ireland where I quarantined before Christmas 2020. The latter location was very fortunately located on the coast, with the Irish Sea a 15 minute walk away.
Sounds from this wintry beach as well as our monotonous, domestic dishwasher make up part of the field recordings within 'Beach Club', itself inspired by Bauby's time at Berck-sur-Mer.
In hindsight, the music on this project began taking place in March of 2020 as I was working with some instrumental and ambient sounds as a very direct response to this changing world.
TRACKLIST:
The Dream
Appear to us Madonna
Beach Club
Season of Renewal