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Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan (founding members of SQÜRL) return with a sonic exploration of the cinematic works of Dadaist pioneer Man Ray, a captivating project that melds music and film.

Over the past eight years, SQÜRL have been enchanting audiences with their live scores to Man Ray’s short films across sold-out shows in prestigious venues like the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the Art Institute of Chicago. The culmination of their endeavor took place in the spring of 2023, on the 100th anniversary of Man Ray’s inaugural foray into filmmaking, when the newly restored Return to Reason premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Produced by Womanray (Marieke Tricoire) and Cinenovo (Julie Viez), Return to Reason unfolds as an anthology featuring four silent short films by Man Ray – Étoile de mer (1928), Emakbakia (1926), Le Retour á la Raison (1923), and Les Mysteres du Château de Dé. (1929) — each paired with an original score by SQÜRL.

Jarmusch and Logan, two multi-disciplinary artists known for their experimentalprowess, approached these scores as a way to create an ecstatic state, a space betweenconsciousness and unconsciousness, reality, and the surreal. The resulting album,Music for Man Ray, born out of a live recording at the Centre Pompidou in Paris inFebruary of 2023, features distorted guitars, hypnotic feedback, loops and affectedsynthesizers. In the words of Logan, “It’s a journey we want to take the audience on,illuminating themes throughout these films. They are discrete, but there are alsorecurring echoes throughout the whole program.” Jim Jarmusch adds, “We feel veryproud to be Man Ray’s backup band.”

Now both the film Return to Reason and the resulting music in the form of Musicfor Man Ray are seeing the light of day - both stand as a testament to the creativesynergy between Man Ray’s groundbreaking cinema and the innovative musicalinterpretation by SQÜRL.

TRACK LISTING

1. Starfish
2. Leave Me Alone
3. The Return
4. Castle Of Dice