we are opposite like that – Vinyl

we are opposite like that, 2019
Himali Singh Soin
Published by Forma, and launched 24 November 2021

we are opposite like that is an ongoing series of interdisciplinary works that comprises fictional mythologies for the poles, told from the non-human perspective of an elder that has witnessed deep time: the ice.

Pairing poetry and archival material, this track recounts the tale of the omnipresent anxiety in Victorian England of an imminent glacial epoch. The disorienting fear of an invasive periphery sent shudders through the colonial enterprise, the tremors of which can be felt in contemporary times. An alien figure traverses the blank, oblivious whiteness, and undergoes an Ovidian transformation into glimmering ice.

The first side of the release features the original score performed by the Krystallos Quartet, inspired by field recordings from the Arctic and Antarctic circle, composed by David Soin Tappeser. The music was conceived as a score to accompany Himali Singh Soin’s eponymous video work we are opposite like that (2019), which recounts the tale of the omnipresent anxiety in Victorian England of an imminent glacial epoch. The disorienting fear of an invasive periphery sent shudders through the colonial enterprise, the tremors of which can be felt in contemporary times.

The second side comprises Subcontinentment, a manifesto that posits a South Asian Futurism, anti-chronicling the geopoetic links between the poles and the Indian subcontinent. The extra-terrestrial echoes of stones skimming on frozen lakes sound like firecrackers, blackening the air. The soundscape is set against the image of an alien figure from the equator traversing the blank, oblivious whiteness, slowly transforming into glimmering ice.

The vinyl includes a limited edition print designed by Cecilia Serafini, comprising imagery and poetry from we are opposite like that. The we are opposite like that vinyl was produced by Forma, with support from the Arts Council England and Focal Point Gallery.

Tracklist:

1. Portals [2:17]
2. Erratics [2:32]
3. Transfigurations [2:03]
4. Emergences [2:20]
5. Afterlives [2:22]
6. Subcontinentment [10:22] :
i. South Asian Futurism
ii. Rest
iii. The Too-muchness of Life
iv. Indirect Vision
v. Pleasure, even at the end