Labor Camp Orchestra : Theater Of Operations

Labor Camp Orchestra

CD – Labor Camp Product
In this sparse but evocative electronica, mingled with tenor modulations, sound effects and melodic harmonies based on Eric Satie’s Vexations, we hear the words of soldiers of the United States Army; transcripts taken from videos recorded during the war in Iraq. The “readings” are perhaps interpreted with too much of a performative attitude; the “words” are arranged to provoke strong emotions, but sound so forced and artificial as to create further uneasiness as a sort of excess of “theater”: fiction superimposed on fiction. In any case, the unquestionable quality stands out, and the unfolding and dialogical converging of the instruments and voices forces us to ponder controversial issues. What do we really know and understand about this historical event? How much does our physical distance from the war affect us? What is the role of the mass media – both one-way like television and two-way like the Internet – in the formation of our emotions? These are questions which have no single answer.