SQÜRL Music for Man Ray

Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan (founding members of SQÜRL) return with asonic exploration of the cinematic works of Dadaist pioneer Man Ray, a captivatingproject that melds music and film.Over the past eight years, SQÜRL have been enchanting audiences with their livescores to Man Ray's short films across sold-out shows in prestigious venues like theCentre Pompidou in Paris, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the Art Instituteof Chicago. The culmination of their endeavor took place in the spring of 2023, onthe 100th anniversary of Man Ray's inaugural foray into filmmaking, when the newlyrestored Return to Reason premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.Produced by Womanray (Marieke Tricoire) and Cinenovo (Julie Viez), Return toReason unfolds as an anthology featuring four silent short films by Man Ray-Étoilede mer (1928), Emak bakia (1926), Le Retour á la Raison (1923), and Les Mysteres duChâteau 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 audienceon, 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.