Pablo’s Eye is a Brussels-based international collective of musicians and artists who share a vision to make magic through music. 2019 marked the 30th year of Pablo's Eye’s loose existence. Their common goal has always been to create a feeling of travelling in time and space, by going from past memories to future hopes. Their aim remains to express the ideal and explore the real through both personal and global stories.
Back in the 1990s, Pablo’s Eye were signed to Swim records and Extreme records but the project was relatively dormant in its recorded output throughout the 2000s until 2018, when Ziggy Devriendt began curating a series of three compilations for his Stroom heritage label, one of which Bardo for Pablo received a glowing review on Pitchfork and the coveted banner of Best New Reissue.
Pablo’s Eye don't really endeavour to be a band, it is more a temporary atmosphere, like a taste, like a dream…
One of our greatest pleasures is trying to translate our view of the world into sounds and music. We have always been inspired by different languages and cultures, spoken words and Richard Skinner's writings in particular.
“October 1974, the French writer Georges Perec spent three days at Le Café de la Mairie in Place Saint-Sulpice, Paris, recording everything that passed through his field of vision: the people walking by; the buses and school cars caught in their routes; the pigeons moving suddenly en masse; a wedding (and then a funeral) at the church in the centre of the square; the signs, symbols, and slogans littering everything; and the darkness that eventually absorbs it all. He called this exercise Tentative d’épuisement d’un lieu parisien, ‘An attempt at exhausting a place in Paris’. A wonderful exercise in observation and description.” Richard Skinner, Extract from Joiners: Essays, Reviews & Interviews, Vanguard Editions 2019. Recorded and reprinted with permission of the author.
Deep listening is intense listening, immersive and environmental. A deeper awareness of the things around you. The city with its social life can be perfect for a deep listening experience. We’ve tried to relive sonically with Georges Perec in mind our drifting away at the Place Saint-Sulpice in Paris, a special place in our heart.
For this project Pablo’s Eye are: Axel Libeert, Luc Laret, Marie Mandi, Johan Coopman and Richard Skinner. Music composed, recorded and mixed by Pablo’s Eye at Soundscube Studio, Brussels, August 2019.
Purchasing: https://pabloseye.bandcamp.com/track/tentative-d-puisement-dun-lieu-parisien