About
Dragonfly Lingo is an electronic industrial act, started in 2009 by the music and film sound engineer, sound producer, and musician Mitia Wexler in Rouen, France.
The project started with an idea to take the pieces of dialogue from film and pair it to the music that each excerpt inspired. With time, the Dragonfly Lingo moniker expanded beyond one concept album paying homage to the silver screen gems.
Dragonfly Lingo’s music is distinctive by its cinematic feel, elaborate soundscapes and a seamless blend of the electronic and organic instruments, and field recordings.
The first release, Morningside (2010), is drawn from the following LP Offscreen. Featuring remixes of the track inspired by Phantasm cult horror series by artists of styles spanning from ebm of Virgo Intacta and dark ambient of Interzone Inc, to progressive house of Ivan Spell, 2-step garage of SoulSeekah, and minimal experiments by AKA, the EP set the tone to Dragonfly Lingo’s ambition to go beyond a particular niche. Morningside was released under Creative Commons license and is available for free download from Dragonfly Lingo’s website.
Flux (2011) came about as a collaboration with the visual artist Leroy Roper. The three pieces of the EP, revolving around the life and metamorphosis, are each accompanied by a flip-book animation-type video featuring photo sessions inspired by the music.
The LP Offscreen (2011), which was at the source of Dragonfly Lingo, is built around the idea of taking certain bits of dialogue from a given movie and putting them on music crafted especially for it. Each track features samples from one motion picture, the latter never crossing over to the other tracks. The featured films vary from the well-known classics such as Close Encounters of the Thrid Kind by Steven Spielberg to Shinya Tsukamoto’s cult flick Tetsuo. The album is graced by collaborations from Aleksey Maksimov (of Virgo Intacta), Pavel Pontryagin (of One June), and Anastasia Adamenko.
The LP has been made available for the public throughout the two years that it was in the works. Such release method has been chosen to introduce the project to the public from the very start and gauge the listener’s interest at the same time, as well as to lift the curtain on the inner workings of Dragonfly Lingo.
Taking the possibilities the digital distribution offers even further, the albums are made in a way as to allow continuous playback of the entire catalogue seamlessly, the last track of each release being matched (to an extent) to the first track of the following one.
The second single from Offscreen – All Right (2011), like Morningside, was released under Creative Commons license and is available for free download from Dragonfly Lingo’s website. Inspired by Shinya Tsukamoto’s cyberpunk flick Tetsuo: The Iron Man, All Right is more industrial-flavoured and features remixes by Common Man Down, DIGIFLESH, Cellmod and Attack Sustain.
Dragonfly Lingo has been nominated for the Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA) in 2009 under the Production/Producer category for Circles, and in 2010 under the Techno/Electronic category for Morningside.
Morningside
Five artists, five different styles, each with a vision all their own, give their interpretation of Dragonfly Lingo’s track, inspired by Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm cult horror series.
Flux
The flow of life is in the perpetual state of flux. The only thing constant in the ever-changing existence is its very ever-changing nature. It begins with our birth, the nearly impossible exploit of the singular cells meeting, merging and dividing, thus creating nothing less than a new life.
The places change, the faces change. This vicissitude is what keeps us ever-curious to see what comes next, what is tomorrow, for the promise of tomorrow’s surprises makes us wish to be a part of it, be a part of a different day, a different world.
Change can bring uncertainty, regret and fear, just as it can bring hope, excitement and inspiration. No matter how we feel about it, the change is inevitable and the evolution, be it personal or collective, is carrying along its path.
Flux is inspired by this evolution. The allegoric three stages of transformation from an embryo to a foetus, to a new-born; that from an infant to an adolescent, to an adult; that from a beginner to a professional, to a virtuoso; that from a larva to a chrysalis, to a dragonfly…
Float
The first hint of life, burgeoning in the comfortable underwater world. The larva, floating, weightless, somewhat disgraceful, yet full of life, fighting ferociously for growth, for survival. Its movements rudimentary, its being simple, but its vital energy strong and the promise of the creature it is to become is well set within. The foresight of the becoming that will take place hidden by the apparent standstill of the cocoon.
Flutter
The moment when what looks like a dormant pupa bursts and the new being emerges, the metamorphosis from the clumsy infant to a graceful adult being. The process is slow, the cocoon is not easily broken, the old skin takes effort to shed. Gradually, bit by bit, what used to be the larva is breaking out into the adult world full of danger and wonders. Frightened yet enthusiastic, it is making its way out of the hard shell that was its hideaway during the transformation, leaving the empty shape of its past self clasped to the branch.
Fly
Out in the open, ready to spread its wings to never fold them again, the now beautiful imago, the dragonfly is getting ready to commence its first flight. The flight with the one and only ultimate goal – to procreate, thus starting the whole cycle once again, always the same, yet always different. The flight of love, that of passion; the flight where all the vital energy accumulated throughout the growth is to be used. The brief moment of ferocious grace of the being at its peak, looking to leave a trace forever in history.
Offscreen
Synopsis
As fate will have it, a music sound producer ends up working in film. During a shooting “dry spell”, he recalls an idea he once had of marrying his passion for music with that for cinema. Often while watching films, he hears parts of dialogue as if they were sung. At such times he feels only music is lacking to turn such snippets into an accomplished musical piece.
He subsequently gets to work, using his music sound skills to make an album. The idea behind the album is rather simple – take bits of the spoken word that stand out and give them the music that they inspire. While the music should have value of its own, it will benefit from the punch each movie brings, and in turn, the movies themselves will get a new spin.
The album consists of the following pieces:
Strange to Say (from William Friedkin’s The Exorcist) – a vile piece where the hellish sound of heavily treated vintage synthesizers is all too evocative of the film’s horror. That scream coming halfway into the track sounds all too familiar – it is the famous scene where Reagan speaks backwards. Only this time it is played forward so as to reveal the blood-chilling lines that resonate within the music. Towards the end, one could swear the Latin phrase has been recorded specially for the track.
All Right (from Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man) explores a particular scene from this cult horror picture classic – it is the surreal telephone conversation where the protagonists say nothing but “Hello”, over and over again. As a counterpoint, ALL RIGHT is a light up-tempo piece rather than an addition to the film’s dark industrial nature. Reminiscent of the big beat from the nineties, it embarks us on a bouncy trip along the dance floor.
Sensor Techniques (from Phil Alden Robinson’s Sneakers) invites us to the subtle but crude, cryptic yet explicit world of computer age spy games. The music takes us on a thrilling ride comparable to that of the film. It oscillates between light-hearted melodies and intense moments of powerful electronica driving cold shivers down our spines. Guided through the twists and turns of the piece, we are spared the intricacies of the plot, and left finally with the comforting promise of the happy end.
Walk With Us (from Alan Parker’s Midnight Express). This piece uses the moment where Brad Davis screams “Bug off!” in Turkish. The words sound like something from a techno anthem. The track is sustained by the sound of the duduk – an instrument native to Armenia but also used in neighbouring Turkey, where the action of MIDNIGHT EXPRESS takes place. One must replay the film to realise how little editing was required to integrate the entire “bad machine” rap into the music.
Morningside (from Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead) is an engaging dance tune with a dose of the cult horror’s unique humour and memorable one-liners, the latter blending seamlessly into the music, urging us to sing along. Just as we have enjoyed following the Tall Man’s reign of horror, so perhaps we should enjoy this horror dance.
I’ve Got Your Number (from David Cronenberg’s Videodrome) features the voice of Deborah Harry’s character moderating her Emotional Rescue radio programme. The telephone conversation transmitted over the airwaves, where the distress of the caller is presented lightly in the film, is given a similar light treatment in the track. The sweet synthesizer solo towards the end appeases us, just as it seems to soothe the caller’s anguish.
The Vortex (from Tony Randel’s Hellbound: Hellraiser II) presents us with no gore, no horror, no visions of hell. Rather Doctor Channard’s meticulously weighted and passionate discourse guides us through the almost sexual groove of the psychiatric lecture. This allows the music to then portray the adrenaline rush of exploring the unwinding corridors of the psyche.
Circles (from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation). The slow-paced tension of this captivating film is transcribed onto a dark ambient sound canvas. The monotonous drone and the occasional piano back bits of the dialogue played repeatedly in the film, dragging us into the sombre mist of doubt. Just like Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest’s characters, we are walking around in circles for the most part of the track until the finale, where the mystery unveiled only adds to the confusion.
Sun’s Here (from Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind). Light and cosmic as the film itself, this track brings a positive touch to the album without straying too far from the overall atmosphere. The acoustic tones of the piano, perfectly married with the electronic instruments, appear as an ode to the improbable yet infinitely enjoyable encounters.
The Ocean (from Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris) brings a vast, slow-paced droning soundscape before us. Just as in the pensive masterpiece that inspired it, everything is uncertain, the space is undefined and balance is fragile. The only fixed point appears to be Hari’s voice, as palpable as her words are fleeting. Unearthly, this meditative piece finishes the voyage into the seventh art, immersing us in the obscure waters of the unfathomable ocean.
In the end, what is created is a dynamic, catchy and full-bodied album that not only compels the listener to watch these cult classics once again, but also portrays them in a new light. An album that presents an unusual outlook on the works that have inspired it and that attempts a more creative film-music interaction than simply covering theme music.
All Right
Four artists, four different styles, each with a vision all their own, give their interpretation of Dragonfly Lingo’s track, inspired by Shinya Tsukamoto’s cult sci-fi horror Testuo: The Iron Man.
Non-Album Tracks
They almost made it, but ‘almost’ doesn’t count…
An ongoing collection of experiments, b-sides, remixes and other music that does not fit onto an album but is too good not to share.
