They too are ghosts

Program Notes

They too are ghosts is the second in a cycle of pieces for solo cello that are composed in response to films that were shot in the Shot-on-Video boom of the late 1980s to 90s. This piece takes its inspiration from the film Jungle Trap and the auteur nature of its producer, Renee Harmon. Harmon was a fearless and resourceful filmmaker, turning the parks of Los Angeles into dense tropical jungles and filling the cast with her acting students. The result is a barely-comprehensible yet spellbinding take on the mondo cannibal film filtered through the cultural lens of 1980s LA. While not attempting to directly translate this film into sound, They too are ghosts reflects upon the medium of the VHS tape and its grain, and the complicated dance of intentionality and non-intentionality, decadent camp and shoestring filmmaking in Jungle Trap that has continued to be a source of fascination for myself. They too are ghosts takes its title from a ridiculously overwrought snippet of dialogue from the film, and is written for Jeffrey Zeigler.