Recollective
Niklas' first release under the pseudonym “Man Eats Fish”. The work is characterized by concrete sounds with a lot presence, combined with abstract electronic texture and newly written and recorded works for string quartet. Lost memories are the main theme that’s being processed on Recollective and through music, sound and visualization I prepare the emotion of lost memories. On the track “Duality” I worked with the sentence, “I don’t remember being born but I have seen it on YouTube”. The track “Duality” might be the sound of my mother given birth to me.
On the track “Corridor Slow” I worked with time, in a philosophical context and the change of time. I wrote a 3 min piece for string quartet and extended the duration for the piece to last for 10 min. In the process I realised that the expanded time, creates a new sonic texture and depth that washed in the original piece. In “Corridor Slow” I worked with the sentence, “what I realized as boy has a deeper meaning now as a man”.
Tracklisting:
- The Breakdown
- Between Sound
- All That Is Solid Melts Into Air
- Duality
- Reconstruction (The Silent Duck)
- The Doors
- Material
- Just Beens
- Birds
- The Arrival
- Corridor Slow
Niklas Schak / Man Eats Fish
Man Eats Fish alias Niklas Schak is focused around tension between fiction and reality. Man eats fish works combined visual art, felt recordings, music and animation. He is educated in the Danish music conservatorium in film composition and has studied abstract sound texture, classical piano, composition and instrumentation. Based in Copenhagen Denmark Niklas Schak has under the pseudonym “Great Music” composed score music for more than 60 film and modern dance theatre since 2003, together with Tin Soheili.
Reviews
Abient Blog
Copenhagen-bases Niklas Schak has produced more than 60 film and (dance) theatre soundtracks, but this is his first release under the Man Eats Fish pseudonym.“Recollective”is contemporary Musique Concrête (with a surprising bright sound) combined with neo-classical string arrangements.“Concrete sounds with a lot of presence, combined with abstract electronic texture and newly written and recorded works for string quartet.”
“Lost memories” are the main theme of the album. And if these memories are not complétely lost they certainly do not reflect the reality of daily life any more…. it’s like walking around like Alice in a rather weird wonderland.
Bleep
Sheffield’s experimental label Audiobulb Records welcome Niklas Schak: it’s the first time the Copenhagen-based theatre and film composer appears as Man Eat Fish after having previously released as greatmusic when writing score music. Recollective is based on the concept of lost memory: exploring the abstract, intangible areas of our brains and minds, his freely structured soundscapes float in space. The album features new compositions written and recorded for string quartet, and includes the soundtrack Schak wrote for the short films ‘Breakdown’ and ‘Between Sound’.
Chain D.L.K.
This new release from Audiobulb is presented as 'characterized by concrete sounds with a lot presence, combined with abstract electronic texture and newly written and recorded works for string quartet'. It's a true presentation of this work that features a strong coherence of musical development.
The metallic beat of 'The Breakdown' opens this release with a track focused on the juxtaposition of the synth drones and the metallic resonances that, in 'Between Sound', are basic composition's element while 'All That Is Solid Melts Into Air' explores the melodic possibilities of the metallic beat. The gentle theme of 'Duality', upon the water's dripping acts as an interlude, or a development, of a form that is the unifying element of this release. 'Reconstruction (The Silent Duck)' could sounds as a chamber music track if the sounds of a metallic balls falling on the ladder, almost present in all tracks, doesn't appears. The violins of 'The Doors' introduce the listener into the second part of this release and, with 'Material', appear even the human voice to further colorize the musical palette. 'Just Beens' sounds like a small intro to the final part of this release: 'Birds', that starts and ends as a noisy track but has an interlude based on gentle strings samples that are the foundation of 'The Arrival'. 'Corridor Slow' closes this release developing the resonances of the string instruments used in the previous tunes.
This release sounds more like a cohesive unit than a collection of track and, even if it's anything truly impressive, it's a release that acts as a quiet soundscape of everyday activities. A nice release.