Just as the chapter functions in the text, my musical adaptation of "Wandering Rocks" is an interlude, an amalgam of almost every voice featured in Ulysses. In that regard, as well as thematically, the song is a microcosm of the EP. For instance, just like the "Lestrygonians" adaptation that precedes it, this piece grapples with the notion of simultaneity, but I'll expound on that later. For now, I want discuss the composition in more general terms.
The structure of the composition is analogous to the the structure of the episode, which is subdivided into nineteen short views of characters, both major and minor, interacting in Dublin, rife with interruptions of events transpiring elsewhere in the city.
So, how does this structure manifest itself in musical space? Each six line verse corresponds to six short views, whereas each six line chorus corresponds to the parallel six interruptions. That is to say, the first 18 short views and corresponding interruptions are embedded in this rather linear format. However, the 19th 'short view,' detailing the procession, is really more of a macro-view, an exhaustive recapitulation of the episode's universe. In my composition, this marks where the lo-fi fuzz, which scrupulously blends these voices together, obscuring the disparity between subject and object as well as direct, indirect and free-indirect discourse dissipates, giving way to a distilled 'part two,' a postlude, if you will. Here, information is streamlined via a single, authoritative, intermediary voice akin to the disembodied 'arranger' that pervades the source text.
The lyrics are sampled from the text. However, naturally, some of the content was modulated as it was transposed from page to audio file. What can I say? In every new adaptation and edition of a text, details get lost, reinterpreted and recontextualized; every reimagination of any source material takes on an idiosyncratic editorial voice of its own. This adaptation is no exception.
Finally, as is evident, I repackaged this episode as an low fidelity, isometric garage rock number with a journalistic thrust. What I mean to say is, my intention was to survey and, subsequently, map a myriad of urban voices, in musical space, rather than inject the piece with misguided opinion and, therefore, sentiment. However, no artwork , no matter how cold, calculated and unconcerned, is totally devoid of affect. Again, this piece is no exception. So, listen, enjoy and allow this murky constellation of whispers to unravel itself.
Claude Monet's The Rocks At Belle-ile
As I was composing this piece, I was concerned with not only grounding the structural and lyrical content in the source text, but also within the scope of the greater Irish musical tradition, while staying true to my garage rock roots. Initially (as is apparent below), I attempted to package this adaptation within a familiar framework, a sort of orthodox song structure with long verses interceded by a punchy chorus and, of course, a little bridge to shake things up. I had my chords and lyrics, however, no matter how hard I tried to wrestle my adaptation into this stock format, the text resisted, impelling me to find an alternatives.
Preliminary Notes
After two weeks of struggling to find an appropriate framework , I stumbled upon caoineadh music, traditional Irish songs of lament, often , underpinned by a homorhythmic texture. While it would be erroneous to qualify my piece as a 'song of lament', I used homorhythm as a mechanism to seamlessly weave the disjunctive short views (the verses) and interruptions (choruses) into a cogent, seamless whole, and, in turn, transpose this notion of simultaneity into musical space. In addition, the static rhythm (through the first three minutes) reinforces the notion that the piece is democratically surveying a multitude of voices, rather than give priority to any single perspective.
Original Lyrics (Page 1)
Above and below are notes of the original lyrics. The Roman numerals indicate the subsection from which any given line was excerpted. The lyrics from the first verse and chorus were spliced from short views 1-6 , the second, 7-12, and the third, 13-18. Again, the 19th short view was treated as separate entity, a sort of higher fidelity epilogue or postlude, that pits descriptions of the viceregal cortège, indicative of British hegemony, against blue collar Irish voices. This tailpiece serves as a primer for the more resolved and pop-oriented "Cyclops," which explicitly grapples with Irish nationalism circa the early 20th century.
Rather than fabricate and impose some sort of Oulipian constraint on my lyric selection process, I took a looser editorial approach, selecting and, subsequently, modifying passages that encapsulate each subsection. Again, my intention was to recontextualize, map and, in turn, collapse the voices (both character and disembodied narratorial) featured in this episode in musical space. If a radio was picking up and transmitting frequencies from three to four pm on June 16, 1904 in Joyce's fictive Dublin to present day, this is what it might sounds like (admittedly, with a little post-punk flair).
Just to reiterate, these whispers convey pertinent motifs from the source text--for example, urban destitution, the Irish Home Rule movement, British allegiance, surveillance and hegemony in Dublin, as well as Catholic and agnostic notions of death and the afterlife.
Original Lyrics (Page 2)
Fortunately, my limited DIY recording software and equipment made it nearly impossible for me to compromise my garage rock sensibilities in pursuit of a polished final product and that's not something I'm entirely unhappy about.
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