Cities + Memory: Spring Project
I was attracted to the field recording from Hanoi, Vietnam of an old French wall clock playing the Westminster chimes because of the immediate surreal quality it had for me. Different levels of different cultures and places embedded into such a simple sound. So I wanted to express that surreal quality in my springtime composition. I was also thinking about the Lotus flower, the national flower of Vietnam. It is known as the flower of the dawn: a symbol of purity, commitment and optimism for the future. At night the flower closes and sinks underwater and rises and opens again at dawn. I thought the field recording of the chimes had this sinking and rising quality, along with the underlying multi-cultural origins. My hope was to express these feelings through my composition. So here is “Hanoi Blossom,” my slightly surreal take on springtime in Hanoi.

Hanoi Blossom

Ümlaut is Jeff Düngfelder, a U.S. experimental composer/sound artist now based in the northern Connecticut countryside. The thematic concepts distinguishing his work are absence and silence; the ineffable exchange between viewer and image; random moments of stillness within a landscape in flux. Using a minimalistic, electro-acoustic approach, his elusive patchwork of field recordings and electronics merge the world of shadows and colours. His memory recordings expose the complex relationship between music and silence. 

In addition to his solo recordings as Ümlaut, Jeff Düngfelder mixes his own electronica with downtempo and jazz elements as a member of Intelligent Life, the trio that equally features Mike Brown on contrabass, and Joshua Trinidad on trumpet.