How to design sound
Theatre duo Francoe launches ambient soundtrack project with spoken word artists.
EXPERIMENTAL art/music outfit Francoe (@francoe_sounds on Instagram) is hoping its debut project will lift the clouds in an otherwise difficult year.
Aptly called Rakaman Emosi,
this four-part audio project features a series of poetry and music collaborations.
“I have had Rakaman Emosi in my head since 2019,” shares Rezza Coebar Abel, Francoe’s co-founder.
Everything was left on the back burner when the pandemic hit last year. But when Coebar, 28, formed Francoe with musician/ writer Ian Francis Khoo in February this year, it finally seemed like the right time to work towards a Rakaman Emosi
release.
“Francoe is a project that was developed through many layers of artistic collaborations. We wanted individuals on board who understood the spirit of the project,” says Coebar.
Rakaman Emosi will focus on poetry, theatre, dance, and a multidisciplinary work.
“We come from contrasting backgrounds. Ian played music since he was a child, and listened to alternative acts like Radiohead as a teen. In comparison, I only learnt to play (guitar) in my late teens, and got into the post rock world in my early 20s,” says Coebar.
In Francoe, Khoo is the multi-instrumentalist, playing bass, drums and guitar; he can also play the piano, percussion, and other instruments. Coebar is plays the guitar, but can also play very basic bass, percussion, and piano.
“We are self-taught artists, so we were never trained to compose for theatre. We came together mainly for performing arts projects – an instrumental act, though some releases will feature abstract vocals, poetry and dialogue,” says Coebar.
Rakaman Emosi will start with Kata, which will be released today at midnight (Sept 19) across various streaming platforms.
The 27-minute-long Kata will feature comedian and poet Hannan Azlan, poet Jack Malik, spoken word artist Sheena Baharudin and multidisciplinary artist Theyvapaalan S. Jayaratnam.
It will explore topics such as sexual identity, faith, loss and freedom of speech.
“I think people can expect a multitude of textures and sounds. A lot of the compositions were formulated around the individual styles and delivery of the respective poets,” says Khoo, 24.
Where exactly is Francoe coming from in terms of music? Is it a headphone experience?
“We’re still trying to figure that out for ourselves. We are fortunate enough to be exposed to a variety of art forms, whether through our own respective music projects or our undertakings in theatre, film, and poetry.
“Coebar proposed the idea of combining our love for all these things into one project and create a platform that allows us to work with artists from different mediums. Music just happens to be something we can agree on,” says Khoo.
“We’re hoping to create a multidisciplinary experience for our audience that includes anything from music to poetry/spoken word, staged theatre, sound design, film scoring, projection/ visuals, etc,” he adds.
Viewers can access Kata via a free virtual listening party through Zoom at 9pm on Sept 18. Donations collected via the listening party will be used to fund the remaining Rakaman Emosi recordings.
For the second instalment called Cara, Francoe will collaborate with selected theatre groups via an open call, encouraging participants to devise and experiment.
Gerak, the third session, will feature dancers, while Ragam will involve multidisciplinary artists.
Apart from Rakaman Emosi, Coebar and Khoo are also keeping themselves busy with The Actors Studio and Hermana Collective’s experimental dance film called
Dead Water. Hermana is a new collective by actor/director Ho Lee Ching and dance artist Chloe Tan.
It was while working for Ching’s directorial debut show
OCD in late 2017 that Coebar and Khoo realised they worked well together. In the same year, they composed music Tung Jit Yang’s
Losertown.
“However, we were getting bored just composing and performing for theatre. We have a couple of goals with Francoe: One is to design more soundscapes for physical and experimental stage productions.
“The other is to encourage other musicians to get together and collaborate with artistes from other disciplines. We can all benefit from having the performing arts as one (strong collaborative scene),” says Coebar.
Rakaman Emosi is supported by the Cultural Economy Development Agency’s (Cendana) Create Now Funding Programme.