{"id":262000,"date":"2025-05-29T04:31:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T04:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/ambient-music\/ben-bertrand-chain-d-l-k\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T04:31:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T04:31:22","slug":"ben-bertrand-chain-d-l-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=262000","title":{"rendered":"Ben Bertrand | Chain D.L.K."},"content":{"rendered":"


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In Relic Radiation<\/strong>, Ben Bertrand<\/strong> continues his exploration of how sound can bend time, space, and emotion into subtle but seismic forms. Anchored by the bass clarinet and animated by electronics, this latest release on Stroom <\/a>conjures a world where cosmic phenomena echo personal loss, and where melancholia becomes a lens for beauty rather than sorrow. Composed in solitude at a Slovakian water mill and inspired by everything from the relic light of the Big Bang to the literary weirdness of Thomas M. Disch, the album pulses with a stillness that\u2019s never static.<\/p>\n

I sat down with the Brussels-based composer to discuss how he sculpts sound like soft architecture, navigates the blurred line between improvisation and structure, and why sadness might be our most underrated window into wonder. What follows is a slow-motion orbit through Bertrand\u2019s thoughtful process \u2013 a transmission from somewhere between deep time and deeper listening.<\/p>\n

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Chain\u00a0D.L.K.<\/strong>: Hi Ben! How are you doing?<\/p>\n

Ben Bertrand<\/strong>: Hi Chain DLK. All good here. Happy to have released this new album. I\u2019m going back to work on new projects: music for an installation and composing a piece for ensemble and electronics.<\/p>\n

Chain\u00a0D.L.K.<\/strong>: The track titles like \u201cMicrowave Background\u201d and \u201cEvent Horizon\u201d evoke cosmic themes. What drew you to these astronomical concepts, and how do they inform the album\u2019s narrative?<\/p>\n

Ben Bertrand<\/strong>: I always find the titles of my music when all is recorded, and I wanted to dedicate this music to my father, who passed away. I began to search for a title that is not only linked to grief, I found that relic radiation was a nice name for this album. The relic Radiation is the oldest light in the universe, a faint afterglow from the Big Bang. It is microwave radiation that permeates all space and provides crucial insights into the early universe. It is cosmically linked, and the term relic radiation suits the feeling I have with my grief: you still feel the presence of somebody when this person is not there anymore.<\/p>\n

Chain\u00a0D.L.K.<\/strong>: Composed during your residency at the Slovakian National Gallery\u2019s water mill, how did this unique environment influence the textures and moods of Relic Radiation?<\/p>\n

Ben Bertrand<\/strong>: The place is peaceful and calm. I arrived there with some sketches and some ideas. Staying in this place permitted me to put all my ideas in order and to link them one with another. This calm and lost place in the middle of Slovakia permitted me to focus on the composition and on the long form of the album.<\/p>\n

Chain\u00a0D.L.K.<\/strong>: The album references Thomas M. Disch\u2019s \u201cThe Puppies of Terra\u201d. How does this literary work resonate with the themes you explore musically?<\/p>\n

Ben Bertrand<\/strong>: Rafael Severi, who wrote the description text of this album, found that this text worked well with my music. I spent time with Rafael one year ago at the Meakusma festival, and we spoke about literature. At this moment, I was reading a lot of Philip K. Dick novels. I appreciate this author because he puts you in a world without explaining to you the way it works. You only begin to understand how those worlds work while reading the story, without having all the elements. I like this way of doing the narration. And as we had this discussion about Philip K. Dick, Rafael thought about Thomas M. Disch to describe this album.<\/p>\n

Chain\u00a0D.L.K.<\/strong>: You\u2019ve described the album as \u201cmelancholy, not melancholy\u201d. Can you delve into this duality and how it manifests in your compositions?<\/p>\n

Ben Bertrand<\/strong>: I think that melancholy is a door that leads you to beauty and not only to sadness. Sadness may help us to see beauty, because in this state, you lose your defenses.<\/p>\n

Chain\u00a0D.L.K.<\/strong>: The album balances familiarity with distance. How do you achieve this interplay between the intimate and the alien in your soundscapes?<\/p>\n

Ben Bertrand<\/strong>: I try to focus on the music (harmony, melody) and on the soundscapes too. I like to add some strangeness in something that could be only beautiful to make it more interesting.<\/p>\n