The Puzzle Is Cast – E Y E <> (feat. Sotiris Debonos & Christos Alexopoulos)
“Psychoacoustic Eye” by The Puzzle Is Cast is a project in which artists of the roster of the Greek independent label Puzzlemusik are recording separately from a distance in pairs.
The project was loosely conceived during the spring 2020 lockdown and took shape in the autumn 2020 lockdown. It can run through time and it can progress and flourish regardless of any future lockdown or not. The Puzzle Is Cast is the brain-child of Sotiris Debonos (composer) and Christos Alexopoulos (composer, head of Puzzlemusik) and many of the musicians in the Puzzlemusik roster participate in it.
The idea was simple: to create a setting suitable for innovative collaborative creativity from a distance, between a pair of musicians, or a whole set of musicians, in a free willing , kind of casual way, without much reflective thinking and afterthought involved. An artistic unit in which a certain member takes on the duty to realise a certain project each time. A project that requires from the other members of the artistic unit simply to provide the artist in charge with the raw material needed for the project.
The debut output of the “The Puzzle is Cast” as an artistic unit is the “Psychoacoustic Eye” recording sessions.
Each musician, while at his/her home recorded a music track, with whatever means he/she had at hand and without thinking very much about what he/she will record. Then the track was processed by Debonos. “Processing” could involve adding (or removing) music material, de-composing and/or structural re-arranging the original track with sound edits, modifying the original sound through the application of filters or a mixed technique combining some (or all) of the above.
The purpose was to produce a completely new material, somehow keeping the spirit of the original track, although the end result could end up being very different from the original.
After the final mix is ready, Debonos produces a video using specific freeware and visuals to accompany it. During the whole process, Alexopoulos acts as a director in the project, or rather as an executive producer, bringing together the musicians, handing out the few, but very specific, instructions and molding the project before it hits your speakers, your headphones or your screens.
Each finished track is released as a digital single via streaming platforms all over the world. A single will be released every second Friday. When the project completes its cycle it will be released as a full album.
E Y E <>
Recorded by Sotiris Debonos and Christos Alexopoulos
Mixed by Sotiris Debonos
Produced by Sotiris Debonos & Christos Alexopoulos
Video by Sotiris Debonos
Executive Producer, Curator : Christos Alexopoulos