I learned to play by hitting the bass with objects

Can you talk me through your installation In-Between?

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It comes in two parts. For the visual part, I filmed images on the train between Brussels, Mechelen, Ostend and Antwerp. They are projected on a big screen (5x2m) next to the installation.   

The sound part consists of two big plate reverbs vibrating from the sound of a loop played through a little transducer attached to them. Running between the plates are eight piano strings. This part is interactive: people play with the strings and make their own tune as a soundtrack to the film. EUROPALIA suggested this project to me when they saw a video of me playing a solo; my bass strings reminded them of train rails. I was also inspired by Ellen Fullman, a composer from San Francisco who works with long piano strings. My friend and collaborator Pavel Tchikov helped me build the installation.

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You’re first and foremost an experimental musician, having worked with the likes of Thurston Moore, Steve Noble, and others. How does it feel to move into visual art? 

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The sound component definitely comes first to me. But with this project, I have learned a lot, like how you often have to be flexible and adapt to the places you work in. Collaborating with people from visual arts entails a very different way of communicating. 

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The line between being classically trained or being a jazz musician and improvising is very thin

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The physical aspect of the installation is similar to what you have always done in your practice but opened up for an audience to interact with more directly.

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Yes, indeed. I have always believed that anyone can play an instrument, anyone can improvise. I did not study music - I learned by meeting new people over the years. The line between being classically trained or being a jazz musician and improvising is very thin. For me, it’s about letting everything go and listening carefully to yourself.

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Who are some artists that you find interesting right now?

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I really like Moor Mother. She’s really inspiring and it’s good to have more people from my community on the scene, and more women as well. I also love the work of a friend of mine Bram Van Breda. He makes tapestries and coal sculptures. We are thinking of collaborating together on a piece using tapestries and sound.

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Tapestry will have a very different effect on your sound compared to the metal you’ve used in this installation.

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Yes. I’m also really interested in the sound the body makes too, it’s often overlooked by a lot of people – like the sound you make when you walk in a big empty space, for example. I would like to work on this and put mics on the ground in an exhibition space.  

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Tell me a bit about your music projects.

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I play electric bass and mostly improvise with effects and pedals like fuzz and wah-wah, some electronics. Since 2018, I have mostly played with London-based drummer Steve Noble and as a solo musician. In 2020 I also started a very exciting project with musician and sound artist Floris Vanhoof.

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Is there a reason you tend to keep it simple with your instruments? Other experimental artists rely on a lot of equipment or variation in their mediums.

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When I started to play, I was learning jazz standards. But when I met my friends in Liège and started playing with the collective L’œil Kollectif, they were really into experimenting with the instrument itself without any effects, just with objects. I learned to play by hitting the bass with objects, I was even going to the shops to find objects to experiment on my bass with. To me, this is the best way: you really know how your instrument works and how the body sounds. Adding effects opens up a whole other world. 

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