Step across the
border
by Fred Frith
Fred Records / ReR Megacorp, Thornton
Heath, Surrey, UK, 2002
26 tracks, price n/a.
ReR/FRO 03
Reviewed by Stefaan Van Ryssen
Hogeschool
Gent
Jan Delvinlaan 115, 9000 Gent, Belgium
stefaan.vanryssen@pandora.be
This is the original soundtrack of STEP
ACROSS THE BORDER - a ninety minute
documentary film about Fred Frith by
Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel. with
Iva Bittova, Hans Bruniusson, Tom Cora,
Tina Cuffan, Jean Derome, Pavel Fajt,
Eino Haapala, Haco, Eitetsu Hayashi,
Tim Hodgkinson, Lasse Hollmer, Bill
Laswell, René Lussier, Fred Maher,
Kevin Norton. Bob Ostertag, Zeena Parkins,
John Zorn.
"Here are more than 70 minutes
of music from the broad palette of Fred
Frith and some of his friends, improvisations
and songs, woven together with sounds
from the many places in which he found
himself during the shooting of the documentary:
a soundtrack to accompany images of
journeys and arrivals, rehearsals and
concerts, roads and rails, fields and
streets. However, this recording is
not just a soundtrack: it exists separately
in its own right. Learning from the
process of filmmaking, Frith has re-worked
and developed the sound material from
the film in order to create a narrative
structure which parallels and complements
the original. Understanding that the
music of "Step Across the Border"
should be supportive of the image, he
works here to recreate new images of
music for your eyes." (Quote from
www.fredfrith.com)
This narrative structure is, however,
a weakness as well as a strength. Each
individual track or song lacks scope
and meaning in itself. They are nice
but anecdotal patches, stitched together
by an invisible — and in this
case ‘unhearable’ —
thread. Listeners have the impression
they are invited to use their imagination
to rebuild the story and not to construct
one of several possible stories. They
aren't given the means to reconstruct
the original nor the freedom to create
a story of their own. This in-between
position leads us away from the music
and makes it quasi impossible to appreciate
it fully. Conversely, the songs themselves
seem to struggle with a similar dilemma.
They lack the freedom to have their
own logic or center and yet they are
overloaded with potential and functionality.
Another quote from the website says:
"In 'Step Across the Border' Fred
Frith states that Art, for him, is not
a question of originality but of freeing
oneself. He wants to reach out to people,
to change them, and he wants them to
be alert, to listen. 'Looking back at
my soms [sic] I find they are very often
about apathy' he says. 'And apathy is
the biggest obstacle in the way of change'."
Surely, apathetic listeners will miss
the point of this record entirely. It
takes at least three or four concentrated
hearings before the narrative unfolds
and the structure reveals itself. Unfortunately,
people who are willing to take the time
to do this will end up with a feeling
of having been taken out on a leash.
They will have taken a step across the
border, only to find themselves and
the music tethered.