Para One investigates the power of dreams in ‘Alpes’

A track taken from his forthcoming album, Machines of Loving Grace, the first instalment of the producer’s multidisciplinary trilogy, SPECTRE.

Para One has given us the first glimpses of SPECTRE, an ambitious, multidisciplinary trilogy that encompasses a new album, Machines of Loving Grace, a feature film, Sanity, Madness & the Family and a new live AV show, Operation of the Machine. Last month the producer and composer released the first single from Machines of Loving Grace, the Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares-featuring, Ghost In The Shell-influenced ‘Shin Sekai’, alongside a cinematic visual from director William Laboury. Today, Jean-Baptiste de Laubier shares another track from the album, ‘Alpes’.

Picking up where ‘Shin Sekai’ left off, Para One guides us through a retro-futuristic exploration of the power of dreams, pairing phosphorescent synth chug with dusty sci-fi visuals that pick out an unconscious procession of dream imagery from the brainwaves of a sleeping man. “I often wonder how the way we sleep affects our dreams,” explains director William Laboury of ‘Alpes’, “bed, temperature, food, or the music we listen to. I didn’t write a script for this music video: I tried to dream the music. Closing my eyes and noting the pictures that came. Those pictures are abstract enough to let viewers dream them, see things that maybe are not there. Just like how I used to be hypnotised by music visualisers like Winamp and Windows Media Player.” 

Machines of Loving Grace sees Para One reflecting on his childhood influences, gazing back to a time when music and film had an unfiltered potency, as well as to the sounds and figures that defined his sensibilities as an artist today. “I needed to break away from patterns and systems of formats, and take unexpected turns. To do so, I had first to allow myself to do so,” he explains. “When you go down the path – of a work, of a person, of the past – you never really find out what was. You find yourself.” His efforts to get back in touch with the past led him to Bali, where he connected with Suar Agung to play jegog, a particular form of gamelan, to Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, where he collaborated with Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, and to the island of Sado in Japan, where he recorded percussion with drumming troupe Kodō.

The album, film and live AV show that make up SPECTRE arrive as the culmination of Jean-Baptiste de Laubier’s prolonged engagement with cinema. Working closely with Céline Sciamma, he has created sound tracks for all of the filmmaker’s films, including Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Girlhood, Tomboy and Water Lilies. His debut feature film, Sanity, Madness & the Family, is coming soon, while his live AV show, Operation of the Machine is set for Winter.

‘Alpes’ is out on April 23, alongside club remixes of the track from Superpitcher, Ricardo Villalobos and Para One himself. You can pre-order the EP here. ‘Shin Sekai’ is out now, alongside remixes from Actress, Alva Noto and speaKwave, aka dynArec.

For more information about SPECTRE, you can visit the website and follow the project on Instagram. You can find Para One on Instagram.