(GZH120) CHRISTINE OTT & MATHIEU GABRY - Aran

INFO
Release date: November 7th 2025
Catalogue #: GZH120
Formats: CD / Digital
Listen via Bandcamp

Film Concert Trilogy Boxset - now available

With ARAN, Christine Ott concludes a trilogy of creations based on Robert Flaherty's cinematographic work, following ‘Nanook of the North’ and ‘TABU’, co-directed with F.W. Murnau. Set on an island off the coast of Ireland constantly battered by storms, the film depicts the daily life of a fishing family in the last century; a true hymn to the courage of these inhabitants, constantly battling the elements. Christine Ott is accompanied on stage by Mathieu Gabry, her partner in Snowdrops, and the duo weaves a score between impressionism, repetitive music and chamber post-rock; an exotic, powerful and moving film concert. This live recording, to be released by Gizeh Records, is the last rehearsal before the premiere, in the silence of the Cheval Blanc hall near Strasbourg, before the audience enters...

Ott spent four years composing for the film. Initially conceived as a solo piano piece, the composer then incorporated her self-taught harp playing, then the theremin, a distant cousin of her beloved ondes Martenot. She invited Gabry to play keyboards and drone box to sculpt this ambitious, physical and immersive musical flow together. This hour and a quarter of original creation responds to the power of Flaherty's images and highly musical editing, sometimes experimental for its time. Naturally, classical piano pieces punctuate the album; the main theme Aran Theme, as well as its variations and reprises, are imbued with romanticism and evoke Chopin or Debussy. The constant contrast between the serenity of these humans and the force of nature is reflected in the ‘Sturm und Drang’ spirit of the pieces Stone Island, Western Lights and Land of Freedom. The latter piece encapsulates this perfectly, with the duality of Christine's ultra-expressive piano and Mathieu's deeply rooted bass lines; a finale that is as minimal as it is orchestral, melancholic but full of hope.

Less classical passages punctuate the album. In The Fishing Line, the mix of harp tones and analogue percussion playfully accompanies the young fisherman atop the cliffs, where his precise movements with the fishing line are translated into repetitive loops and glissandos. This is followed by The Shark and the Rope, which becomes more minimalist in its second half and could be reminiscent of Rachel's or Meredith Monk's piano pieces. In Beneath the Surface, the theremin responds to the organ in a hallucinatory shark hunting scene, while Le Départ sounds like a pause in this continuum, with Gabry playing a solo melody reminiscent of The Cinematic Orchestra. He then unfurls a small symphony of breaths and white noise in Last Breath, before Shadows in the Waves takes over; a piece that references Inner Fires from their duo Snowdrops (2021) and Circles, a bravura piece composed for the film Manta Ray (Aroonpheng, 2018). Ultimately, Ott & Gabry present ARAN as a global work, a true manifesto for natural humanity, both through the subject matter of the film and through their performances; a creation that resonates in a very special way today.

CREDITS
Composed by Christine Ott & Mathieu Gabry between February 2020 and March 2024

Christine Ott: Piano, Harp, Theremin
Mathieu Gabry: Keyboards, BAB 'Boîte à bourdons'

Recorded live on 22 March 2024 by Benoit Burger at ‘Cheval Blanc’ venue, Schiltigheim / Mixed by Mathieu Gabry at Serpentine Studio / Produced by Mimiladoré

Design and packaging by Richard Knox and Dark Peak Press

PRESSING NOTES
CD Edition of 200. Custom CD sleeves, designed, printed and hand-assembled by Dark Peak Press. Gatefold sleeve, cut from 300gsm heavyweight, recycled black card stock.
Hand screen-printed throughout. Includes credit insert and download code.

SHIPPING POLICY
We offer a variety of shipping options, including tracked delivery. Both vinyl and cd orders are shipped using high grade protective packaging. Read more.