Marvin Ayres - Profile

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 7 / 1 / 2007

intro

Maarten Schiethart profiles the career of minimalist and experimental film film composer Marvin Ayres

Marvin Ayers is a graduate from Trinity College and plays the cello, violin and piano. Ayers collaborated with popular acts in the 1980's before releasing his debut on Frankfurt's now defunkt Mille Plateaux's offshoot, the Ritornel label. The 1999 album 'Cellosphere' was recorded from cello pieces that got stretched and extrapolated to become a minimalistic and compelling soundscape. 'Cellosphere' is now available again from Norwich's Burning Shed on CD with an excellent bonus track. Ayers' later recordings have always stood in the shadow of this debut. He has since then concentrated on scores for experimental films and performances such as 'Cycle' and 'Scape' which were theories of sound, set to music. Marvin Ayers broke some new ground on his score for Pete Gomes' film 'Scape'. Ironically ~Scape is a Berlin-based music company run by one 'Pole' - as in the magnetic point and not someone from Poland - and this label's characteristics, of using a multiplication of sketchy sounds, are aptly caught by Marvin Ayers, who was most probably unaware of the fact, on this album. Using both the same idiom as well as the same patterns, the accidental comparative fails to further prove a point as Ayers plays the cello on it. Ayers does not catch up with the evolution of digital composing, though and, instead, finds himself a nice bubble bath of semi-exotic soundscapes. Lacking the sense of mystery and suspension, the recordings, however, need visuals to compensate for the slightly obligatory compositions. For its premiere at the ICA in London, Marvin Ayers composed, based on the twisted loops from manipulated piano recordings, a score for 'Cycle' which showed the rhythm of flora. Most recently he formed a duo with singer Sonja Kristina, the initials of their names to form the name of the duo MASK, and he landed on the wrong side of new age muzak with the CD/DVD dual disc 'Heavy Petal'. Flirting with oriental imagery and sound, it's a soothing, easy listening travel guide which one would sooner expect to come from a tourist agency. One track received a remix treatment and managed to scrape the bottom of the dance charts but that's as far as fame for 'Heavy Petal' would go. The development from 'Cellosphere' to now leads to worry, and even to despair.