July 2015:

During the Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to complete #OrsonsLastFilm "The Other Side Of The Wind", Nemo proudly contributed to the "Maverick" level, by donating 100% of the download sales from the songs/album.

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"My deepest thanks to those who showed such support for Orson's film, by way of my collages. It was a great honor to take this work, a labor of love that represented countless hours, and have it ending up being a part (however minor) of helping Orson's famous unfinished work, to see the light of day."
- Nemo

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So, about this album...

Nemo's 2009 return to the Sound Collage form, was with this full length album tribute to Orson Welles.

This album was in a similar style as the 90's Nemo recordings from the Sound, Songs; Nonlinear album, where each song is constructed by using sounds from the source material, that are not typically thought of as "musical", substituting for aspects of a song (rhythm, melody, atmosphere, "lyrics", etc.).

For this album, Nemo incorporated elements of actual music from the source material, and combined them with elements of dialogue and sounds, taking the older approach, and raising up a notch or ten...



This interview was included in the original liner notes of the CD booklet:

Tina Lambright from the band Wide-Eyed, interviews Nemo regarding his latest album:

T - Why Orson Welles? What's the connection?

N - There were various reasons; the "why?" - I guess to me, Orson's life was all at once, a success, comedy, and a tragedy on a self-designed, Shakespearean scale.

So much has been said about Citizen Kane, and its impact on filmmaking, and even on his life and career, yet so much of his life story is relatively unknown (or filled with misinformation) to the general public, despite the sheer quantity - and quality - of his work, for both himself, and other people.

He had a very independent mind and nature, in an art form (filmmaking) that was wrought with interdependencies. In the end, he followed his gut, heart, and creative visions - these things, I, at the very least, admire and respect, if not attempt to follow, myself - that would be one prime "connection", in my mind. I mean that not from any pretentiousness, but merely in a desire to better attempt to create what I imagine.

I found a lot of depth within so many different moments of dialogue of his, that were autobiographical to me personally, as well as to him, so I decided to pay some sort of tribute, while also expressing myself by doing a new collage.


T - Did you set out to make an entire album?

N - No, it initially began as one song, and quickly evolved into three, which led me to the realization that I had more than enough material for an entire album's worth. I actually could've made a very similar record, using entirely different bits of dialogue/music/sounds, but these moments struck me the most.


T - What struck you most about the dialogue bits you chose?

N - Many different things - comments that resonated with me, or my life, bits that reflected upon Orson's life (or both of us), some phrases that were funny, odd, abstract imagery, and so on.

In using the form of a collage, as opposed to a more standard Rock/Hip-Hop/Pop songwriting approach, it's easier to have more than one or two angles of perspective - in a more typical style of song, to avoid confusing the listener, there tends to be some chosen "angle of approach" (attitude/message or non-message/etc.), and then tell your story, make your statement, create images, or whatever the song's style is - in a collage, ALL angles tell the story, and you can have many different narratives and perspectives, sometimes all at once - besides, I don't entirely mind confusing the listener.


T - To the first time listener, it may seem chaotic, or hard to distinguish individual parts, is that your intent?

N - Well, sort of, but not to assault the listener, but rather to create an overall image as well as a density of details.

I feel that there can be a rhythm, melody, even harmony, making for an interesting sound (to me, at least), when there are a few layers of talking on top (or near) each other. I had this image in my mind, of being in a crowded train station/airport, where you (the listener) catch bits of conversation, and a subtle sort of "ghost rhythm", that isn't as overt as a drum track, but present all the same.

I also feel like it wears well on repeated listenings (even the slower, more sparse sections), because you not only get the overall image of everything all together, but also you can start to be able to distinguish the individual bits of dialogue and music - this is, at least in part, why there is so much extreme separation in the stereo field, which also works well, if you are next to just one speaker of a stereo system, in a room.

I also tried to make it enjoyable (bearable?) to listen to with headphones, or on a boom box, car stereo, or whatever - at least that was what I was hoping for.


T - You made many collage recordings throughout the 1990's, how does this one differ from those?

N - Well, for the most part, I usually had the personal guidelines of selecting only one film, and using only sounds (natural/foley/ambient) and dialogue (either repeated or not), to create a narrative, rhythm, and "melody", and specifically no music (or as little as possible), only where it was behind dialogue I wanted to use.

For this record, I actually selected bits of music from Orson's films, films he acted in, or gave narration to, and radio shows, and then I'd chop up and rearrange the music. In a few cases, I used longer passages of music, sparsely edited, but still with layers of dialogue.


T - How was that different from standard "sampling"? Did you use a computer to do this?

N - No, I didn't use a computer, but mostly a cassette 4-track, and a digital stand-alone 8-track recorder, that's digital, but set-up like an analog multitrack, and all of the edits were very much "by hand". I used sources that were everything from VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs, LPs, and cassettes.

I guess one difference from standard sampling, was my process. Instead of "sampling" something just once, and copying that moment digitally (to loop/repeat sounds), I would favor doing multiple passes of the same section, which tends to vary the time before and after the "key phrase" I was going for, and when using analog sources, it might even vary some of the sound and tone of the selected bit.

Only after the fact, did I do some digital editing - cutting, pasting, and rearranging bits, especially musical parts. It may be nothing new, but I wasn't trying to break any new ground, except maybe for me personally, but I really enjoyed playing with the different musical sounds and textures, in addition to the dialogue and other sounds. I even messed with moments of tape hiss, that sounded interesting to me, if it fit the song.


T - Yeah, you tend to have a reputation for being a perfectionist with your "multiple passes".
This is a little different from a standard "tribute" or homage, would you talk a little about that?

N - Well, the end result does sort of reflect how I take in the world. I'd say, in that way, it's a very revealing and personal reflection.

I'd also say that most "tribute" kind of things, tend to be much more sparse and selective, whether they only draw from a lot fewer sources, all from one company/label (usually relating to legalities, etc), or to highlight very select moments they want to put to the front - for something like this, I like having a lot of things going on, and to pick out what I want on each listening.

I just hope others enjoy listening to it, as much as I enjoyed making it.