My friend fears the blades of wind turbines. Their sole purpose, he claims, is chop the heads off of humans dropped from aircraft. Here, in Thomas Brinkmann’s “Agent Orange,” I find it hard not to hear a soundtrack to this execution, my friend’s fear.
The nerves of repetition. The spinning blade pushing forceful air. The oscillations of both blade and aircraft. An alarming decrease in cabin air pressure. The migraine before execution, between the last meal and the flipping of the switch. The stout little man inside the kernel, pushing against the cell walls. Modern wind.
I find it hard, also, not to picture US aircraft devastating the Vietnamese landscape with Agent Orange. The thing I find hardest, though, is to believe Editions Mego’s claim that “any associations, emotions and reactions are purely in the reasoning of the listener as the artist makes a strong and deliberate move away from intent.” After all .and. give me a break, the track is called “Agent Orange,” which does not particularly trigger open-ended associations. I find it to be an appropriate title for, as dictated by my emotional reaction, a nerve-wracking track that reminds me of my friend’s fear of blades, among other anxieties and toxins.
• Thomas Brinkmann: http://www.max-ernst.de
• Editions Mego: http://editionsmego.com/release/EMEGO-204