Nicolas Jaar’s Personal Experience with his Nations’ History and Politics

By: Tom Hurst

Nicolas Jaar is a Chilean-American-French-Palestinian electronic composer. The album ‘Sirens’, released 30th September 2016, marks his second solo album, and the first in five years, following his breakthrough debut ‘Space is Only Noise’ back in 2011. It has received acclaim from both independent and electronic music publications, and quite rightly.

It is both a study into, and an expression of, political, historical, personal and musical experiences. His father, Alfredo Jaar was a world-renowned and politically-driven conceptual artist, the cover art draws on an image from a work by Alfredo.

Nicolas has described this album as expressing things more engrained in him than anything he’s previously released, down to the first sound on the record being that of a flag waving in the wind; although intended to sound equally like a boat approaching the shore. It’s this duality that he was striving to highlight as he questions the relationship between political narratives and explanations of history.

Nicolas appreciates the context behind music, acknowledging President Trump’s plans for a wall on the border between Mexico and the USA, as well as appreciating life’s big questions and the role that everything has in why we’re here.

Below is the link to his father's website:

http://www.alfredojaar.net/

ST.ART does not own the rights to any of the images used in this article.

Photo from http://consequenceofsound.net/