Following the release of ‘Overlay‘ last year together with Joachim Spieth, German producer Markus Guentner delivers his next album ‘Kontrapunkt’ on A Strangely Isolated Place, enhanced with a collage of timeless memories for ‘All Light Will Remain‘ featuring Australian vocalist and musician Karen Vogt.
Throughout his career crafting enigmatic soundscapes for labels including Kompakt, 4AD, and Ghostly International, the veteran producer now reaches a pivotal moment with his latest album, ‘Kontrapunkt‘ navigating through uncanny solar systems and earth-shaking ambient textures, establishing an intriguing dialogue with a diverse lineup of collaborators including Sonae, Abul Mogard (the alter ego of Guido Zen), Karen Vogt, Joachim Spieth, Pepo Galán, Arovane, Benoît Pioulard and Hollie Kenniff.
To help visualise the music, Guillaume Eymenier fuses mystical lights with excerpts from human tenderness on ‘All Light Will Remain‘. For a better understanding of the creative process, Karen Vogt shares some precious words:
‘The song felt very cinematic to me, and I was inspired to organise a video for it. So I asked Markus if that would be okay if I approached a filmmaker friend here in France, Guillaume Eymenier, to do a video for the track. I had worked with Guillaume before many times with videos for my band Heligoland, and also music, field recordings and videos for my Losing The Sea solo album. There was a gentleness and a grace to Guillaume’s style of filmmaking and Markus’ music that felt like it fitted perfectly to me. Guillaume decided on the idea to use footage from some weddings, but to focus on the light. So this video is very much about light, mood, feeling, and how the light moves. It has an ephemeral kind of atmosphere that moves in unison with the song. It feels to me like the way music and music videos should be made – to let people respond to the music in their style and let the process be very organic and natural.‘
After years of collecting various images, Guillaume Eymenier explains: ‘This wedding footage is a small part of a bank of footage I’ve accumulated. I wait for the good song, and to find the good mood. I like to transform and adapt footage not intentionally filmed for a music video. I tried some combinations, but in the end, black and white slow motion fitted best with the floating mood of the song.‘
‘Kontrapunkt’ is out now via A Strangely Isolated Place. Order a copy from Bandcamp.
