Stefan Klaverdal - Train station melancholia (Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam)

from Well​-​Being Cities by Cities and Memory

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Ho Chi Min City station reimagined by Stefan Klaverdal.

"Travelling to me have always been something positive, the excitement and anticipation building up to the travel almost make worth the whole trip. As it is for many people I find that to travel by train is also something extra, there is perhaps something with the way of travelling close to the ground, the speed that is just right, and the possibility to move around in the train that makes it stand out. Trains embodies the dream to move, to enrich ourselves and to become better.

Lately, however, all forms of travelling have brought with it something of a bad consciousness in us all since all forms of travelling comes with an environmental debt, making at least me feel slightly guilty every time I travel. The sound of a train station as in this composition is therefore kind of nostalgic to me, something that I hear and remember with fondness.

On the other hand, trains are perhaps one of the least environmentally destructive ways of moving, making it the future of travelling. In a way this work is also hopeful.

Another aspect of this particular piece is that since it keeps a meditative tone throughout, and I find it increasingly important to retain that kind of sonic quality in cities. It is, I think, dangerous to build cities without thought to how they sound. Too many cities keep the focus on, say, car traffic or make room for noisy commercials or the like. Too few cities have room for though, and room for hearing your own breathing or voice properly.

There are several ways to either remove or, in fact, add sound to a city or human dwelling that actually feel soothing or calming. I am not shure playing meditative music everywhere is one of them, but in this context it serves as a reminder that to be whole as persons we need to make room and time for ourselves.

The piece “Train Station Nostalgia” is a way of capturing both these trains of thought (no pun intended).

My music here is constructed on top of a wonderful recording of a train station at Ho Chi Min in Vietnam. I have never been there, but stations tend to sound more or less the same everywhere in the world. It reminds me of backpacking in my youth, of train travels with family, of the way trains capture our dreams.

The recording is slightly reorganized but mostly used in its original form and not really manipulated.

The ambient sound of people moving make the background to a piece with a meditative moody minimalistic piano piece. The piano plays several ostinatos, on top of which a melody forms. Bass and chords are introduced and almost take over, but the melody prevails, and the piece slowly ends with the piano ostinato.

The piano is an old Steinway that is recorded in Ableton Live and carefully manipulated there, making it sound more electronics at times."

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from Well​-​Being Cities, released October 19, 2022

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Cities and Memory Oxford, UK

Cities and Memory is one of the world’s biggest sound projects, a global, collaborative sound art and field recording programme with the aim of remixing the world, one sound at a time. It covers more than 100 countries and territories with 5,000+ sounds and more than 1,000 contributing artists.
Thousands of field recordings, recomposed and reimagined by artists around the world. ... more

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