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Carmen Nihilo

by Dervis Can Vural

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1.
In your hesitant breath 03:30
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2.
A poem 08:23
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3.
Of nothing 03:44
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4.
Nothing: As a love letter on a blank page 03:04
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5.
Written in silent letters of an extinct language 02:37
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6.
Nothing: As written in a fading notebook 04:19
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7.
Of a composer that no one ever heard 04:24
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8.
Improvising doodles 03:54
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9.
Of ravens marveling over a junkyard 02:22
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10.
Of a praying mantis dancing on a doll's head 02:12
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11.
Your breath, a lullaby 02:10
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12.
To which I unravel and unbecome 03:02
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about

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Carmen Nihilo was built on piano improvisations inspired by a poem I wrote with the same title. The poem is embedded in the song titles and lyrics, and describes the contemplations of a musician as he falls asleep next to his daughter.

The poem starts with the little girl’s steady breath, and in it, the musician’s observation of Carmen Nihilo (“A Chant / Poem of Nothing”), which embodies the transience and insignificance of love, language, music, and by and large human culture. As his mind descends further into hypnagogia, these thoughts superimpose with colorful, dream-like imagery of birds and insects scavenging the post-human end-of-the-world. The poem ends with the musician sinking into sleep. Correspondingly, the music retreats with an ever-descending progression of chords. The theme of sinking into oblivion signifies coming to terms with the finitude of relevance and significance, not only as an individual, but as a species.

Carmen Nihilo

In your hesitant breath,
A poem
Of nothing.

Nothing: As a love letter on a blank page,
written in silent letters of an extinct language.

Nothing: As written in a faded notebook
Of a composer that no one ever heard,
Improvising doodles
Of ravens marveling over a junkyard,
And praying mantices dancing on a doll’s head.

Your breath a lullaby,
To which I unravel and unbecome.

The music/poem is self-referential. For example, in track 7, the song titles constitute the lyrics, and every melody in the album makes an appearance after the corresponding verse. The second and third songs “A poem / of nothing” refer to the poem itself.

Despite these structural premeditations and musical complexity, Carmen Nihilo is a testament to improvisation and spontaneity: The tempo will bend to the extreme. The music will at times come to a full halt, meditating on a single note, only to then suddenly storm through some bizarre scale. The vocals, in response, will adapt, react and maneuver around these turbulent twists and turns with the precision of a predatory animal dancing before its prey. Piano and vocals interlock in disordered synchrony, like a gothic monument that somehow came alive and started breathing.

However, beneath all harmonic unorthodoxy, impressionistic textures, odd rhythms and extraordinary precision in musical execution, lies, all in all, “a chant of nothing”, by “a composer that no one ever heard”, who is simply putting his daughter to sleep. As such, every human being will be able to sense something beautiful in Carmen Nihilo, despite the strange musical grammar with which it speaks.

credits

released March 8, 2021

Composition, production, mixing, mastering: Dervis Can Vural
Lead Vocalists: Faye, Carolina Santos, Sarah Elizabeth
Piano, back vocals, percussion: Dervis Can Vural
Album Cover: Nihil

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Dervis Can Vural image

Dervis Can Vural Turkey

My compositions are experiments in counterpoint and impressionism sourcing middle eastern motifs. Most of my work explores texture, as opposed to harmony and timbre.

I was trained as a concert pianist, but later on became a theoretical physicist. ... more

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