ANTIFLEUR is a nightmarish homage to video games of the early 90s - uncanny, unrealistic graphics, that nevertheless infiltrated the young composer’s mind with their visceral depictions of gruesome death, combined with tinny, trashy, 8-bit versions of popular classical hits. This represented some of the composer’s earliest encounters with both the concept of death and classical music. Overwhelming, dazzling, trashy, crunchy, childish, nihilistic, joyful, sorrowful, and exuberant – all at the same time.
ANTIFLEUR started life as a piece for saxophone, guitar, electronics, and video. The electronic part was then used as a standalone track on the composer’s 2021 album Music is not always participatory. The video version is an attempt to capture the live performance, where the musicians move between playing self-seriously on their instruments, playing childishly on small electronic toy instruments, and emotionally performing theatrical gestures with fake flowers. The aesthetic is at once both trashy and luxurious, as the direction and editing tries to distill and translate the experience of ANTIFLEUR performed live through an excessive use of trashy green screen effects.
Composed, directed and edited by James Black
Stefan Baur, saxophone/otamatone/calla lily
Frederik Munk Larsen, guitar/otamatone/calla lily
James Black, facial expressions
Connor McLean, voice
Find the score for ANTIFLEUR here >>