29/01/2022
George Bizios - "House of the Rising Sun" | Art Baxter Garage(full performance)
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29/01/2022 by ANDROS ANTONIADES • In the summer of 2020 I witnessed for the first time a solo performance by George at an open air, small, intimate gig. He had a simple setup, nothing too fancy, and played a mix of original pieces and rearrangements of famous songs, all with a curious, inventive take. Suddenly, out of the musical rubble, the all so familiar melody of The house of the rising sun emerged gracefully. Only when the melody was solidified with a loop and layered with high pitch accents did I realise that he had been giving out hints throughout the performance that this was coming. I slumped down next to his amp, closed my eyes and imagined the house, the brothel, the gambling house and anything else the ambiguous house in New Orleans could have been. I felt the pain of its occupants and the dissonance the juxtaposed beautiful scenery that the song describes produces. Many have told tales of the house, but listening to this performance, I felt like nobody has ever told the tale from George’s perspective. After the gig I approached George and asked him if he would like to document his take. Together we imagined the scene of a sunbathed silhouette crying out the melody within a sparse, open space. A few months later we recruited our sound engineer Yiannis, got together and recorded the tune in Baxter Garage, a space that fit the requirements of our vision. Ever since, we have been working together with the same team in the same space, to share our visions with the world and bring fantastic performances to the light through this platform we now call Art Baxter Garage.
The rearrangement guides the listener through a story of many twists and turns, questioning common perspectives of the song, showing both the bright and the dark that the sentiment of the house contains. A tale about curiosity, gluttony, greed, misschief, playfulness, excitement, silence and regret, all within a deceivingly breathtaking setting.
Houses like the one in new Orleans exist everywhere, where lifes go to waste.It’s an idea embedded within all of us. Here’s George’s take on it.
Art Baxter Garage Team
Andros Ant Yiannis Krokodilos Michael George Bizios
Credits:
Directed by : Andros Ant
Edited by : Andros Ant
Curator: George Bizios
Sound Engineer: Yiannis K. Michael
Mixing/Mastering: Dogyard Studios
Camera support: Xanthos Sarris
