Philip Bonneau - Brave New Secrets Redux

I've spent the better part of two weeks engrossed and enmeshed in the world that is the mind of Philip Bonneau.  Philip is a visual artist that I have written about before as he has taken his art to a new level and becoming more of a mixed media artist by adding soundtracks that has has painstakingly crafted to his art shows.  His latest project, Brave New Secrets has been something of a transcendental process for Philip as not only have the circumstances of his art changed but on a fundamental level, he has also changed.  When he set out to create this project, he created the soundtrack that would interweave it's way through his photography with the purpose of where he stood in his life at that time.  Now that he is geographically different as well as intrinsically different on a creative level, his vision behind the project is different as well.

In the first iteration of the soundtrack - which was created at the start of the project, there is an overall sense of deep melancholy punctuated with artists like Florence and the Machine, Faithless, Above and Beyond and Placebo.  The direction of the piece has a listless quality that lazily pulls you along with it and it feels as if that can be translated to where he felt creatively.  It feels like all the pressures from the outside world to create something bigger and better than what he had previously done was weighing on him and stifling his creativity.  There are portions thought the journey where everything seems too heavy; too much of a demand to be the artist he needed to be, not only for himself but for everyone else as well but there are glimmering moments of hope peeking through as well.  It's the idea that through all adversity, there can be triumph in which ever form we need.

The second of the two mixes; "Birth, Death, Resurrection Redux" was made sometime later and has a completely different aesthetic to it.  Philip had an opportunity open before him and he took the chance and uprooted his life and moved to a new state, a new experience and a new chapter and all of that is reflected in the choices he made when laying out the musical progression from start to finish.  You are still privy to his thoughts, emotions, and ideas in this version of the soundtrack; there's just a different underlying message and meaning of how the story is told.  His intention has a different merit but it still expresses where he's been and what he's gone through to make him the man that he is now.  There's less strife and turmoil and there is a much more expressive voice to his experience.  Don't misunderstand me, he still as a full range of expressions that are being put out before you, he's just approaching his life and his journey with a different set of eyes and external stimuli this time.

In each of the versions of the soundtrack, he's having a conversation with not only the purveyors of his art but himself as well.  He has laid himself bare for us to see.  His insecurities are out for the world to not only see, but to judge him by as well.  There are stories about disastrous relationships, the kind that you know better from the beginning but because our heart never listens to our head, we still dive headlong into the toxic cesspool of people that aren't there to help us be better people.  We get to hear his successes and his hopes on top of his anxieties and fears and you really get to learn so much about who Philip is without ever uttering a word to him.  He has taken his experiences and combined them ever so carefully with the music that will get you not only to where he needs you to go but to where you need to go as well.  I dare you not to listen to these two mixes and not learn something about yourself in the process.

This man continues to amaze me as he shows continual growth and a desire to seek the truth in the art that he creates.  For someone who's primary medium being visual be produce these mixes in such an elegant way speaks volumes of his understanding of the message he wants to impart and I think that it's one of learning from who we are and being at peace with where we've been and were we are going.  To not rest easy on our laurels and to challenge our own expectations of what we feel is or is not part of our experience.  To make sure that each day we step one foot in front of the next, we are doing it not for anyone else but for ourselves because at the end of the day if not for our own reflection, who are we?

Philip Bonneau - Once Upon a Time

Starting this portion of the audio mix for his mixed media project, Brave New Secrets; with Lana Del Ray's lovelorn version of "Once Upon a Dream" sets the tone for this piece. It's haunting and it's a bit broken up but it's still a very hopeful song about that chance meeting so there's a sliver of a silver ling shining through. We then progress into "One Step Too Far" by Faithless with the gorgeous Dido on vocal duty.  This song almost seems like Philip is leading us down a path through a forest of his imagining.  We are looking for that person that is going to come along and sweep us off our feet but we are getting to the point that waiting for them is becoming problematic and almost not worth the effort.  Missed Connections.

Coldplay always brings the emotion and the drama.  Continuing the waiting, the longing.  The pang of loneliness and sadness coloring the edges of the mental images.  A short interlude brings us back to the empty path in the forest where the trees loom too heavily and the air is too thick and we find ourselves all alone.  And even though we are alone and our breath is too shallow, there's still a resolve that can't be quashed.  If we look into ourselves and steel our reserve of self worth and courage, we can make it to the other side of this.  And when we do, the forest opens up to a glade where all manner of Fae and creatures are dancing and frolicking in the moonlight.  With a soundtrack provided by Bastille.

Philip is building an allegory about the human condition through visuals and auditory stimulation that is simply brilliant.  The feelings that he's able to invoke through his musical selection are incredible.  He paints these images with a brush that's so colorful and infectious that it's impossible not to see what he's building.  Stick with him on this journey of self reflection and you may just learn something about your own experience.

Philip Bonneau - The Pawn Overture

In what will likely be the first act of his art project "Brave New Secrets", Philip has released "The Pawn Overture".  The track starts off with white noise, static, news reports and an overall sense of discord.  It quickly focuses in and becomes very airy and atmospheric.  Using a reading from Romeo & Juliet, we are then thrust into something that doesn't feel exactly right.  It's ominous and foreboding like something just outside the periphery is watching you.  You feel it on the back of your neck but can't quite place the feeling.  As the ambiance changes into something a little more fevered, you feel like you need to quicken the pace of your stride because it's just not safe.  The track is brilliantly put together and is done with such aplomb it actually caused an emotional response in me.  My heart rate actually increased a little and I was able to feel a connection to it.  There's a lull around the 7 minute mark that makes you feel like you've taken refuge or sanctuary and as soon as you feel rested, there are these discordant church bells that increase your anxiety once again but you soon realize that you may have thought you were fleeing from something that in actuality you were running toward someone.

Someone that you just might be star crossed with.  His use of "Mirror" by Ellie Goulding is genius.  It's not one of her more well known songs as it was on The Catching Fire Soundtrack and not one of her releases.  As a photographer, it amazes me that his skill at mixing and music production is as strong as it is.  There isn't a flaw in this piece.  It's built amazingly and it is brilliant in it's execution.  When he is actually able to put the images with this song, I think people are going to be blown away.  I may be a bit biased because I am a tremendous fan of his art and I think that with his point of view, there are many people that will be affected by this work.  It's incredible to me when people are able to lay their soul bare for the world to see and in doing so cause people to become more than what they were to begin with.  I've had the opportunity to get to know Philip and the man you see in the art is the man he is.  There's nothing pretentious or obtuse about him.  He is what you expect him to be and that honesty is priceless.

Philip on the Web
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhilipBonneau
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pbonne20