TRACKMARKS (Live at the Barbican)

TRACKMARKS (Live at the Barbican)

A brand new track by H.Sinno, recorded live at the Barbican Centre. Built from fragments of real life—subway adverts, train-platform conversations, and the collective despair of life under capitalism.

TW: The video contains material that references death by suicide, and may be harmful or traumatizing to some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

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In February 2023, H.Sinno visited the museum of neoliberalism, while on a writing residency with Shubbak and English PEN. On the way back, the train was held back, because a man was on the tracks, attempting to die by suicide.

The would-be passengers became visibly upset, but as time passed, it became evident that their ire was directed at the man himself, rather than the Kafka-esque conditions and structures we all live under, which had brought him to this point of despair.

Sinno recorded the passengers’ conversations, in which they raged at the man's "selfishness" in disrupting their schedules, causing some to be late for work, and making some worry that a man on the tracks would, to their bosses, sound like a made up excuse. Some even suggested that the police should've “just killed him.”

Trackmarks is an edit of those conversations, introducing a song written entirely out of advertising slogans seen on the London underground in the months that followed the incident. It turns out "escape" is a common sales promise in London's advertising.

Note: Although recording conversations in public spaces is legal under UK law, (because don't scream at the train tracks if you want privacy), the voices have been processed & any remaining similarity to other voices is incidental & not really my problem now; is it, Meredith?

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CREDITS

Music by: H.Sinno & Andy Butler (Hercules & Love Affair)

Lyrics by: H.Sinno

Visuals by: Matteo Zamagni & H.Sinno 

VIOLIN: Joana Valentina 

VIOLIN: Yuri Kalnits

VIOLA: Stanislav Popov

CELLO: Roberto Sorentino 

String arrangement by: Paul Stroud 

Video Produced by: Merass Sadek & Glam Guru Films 

Cinematography by: Merass Sadek, Russell Stedman, & Timothy Pinheito

Commissioned by: Shubbak Festival & Barbican

Produced by: MARSM & Showponies