For more than a decade, Nicolas Jaar has seemingly been enslaved to the studio for a series of epic electronic soundtracks. In between his collaborations with emerging directors, he has crafted his own eclectic, experimental albums that venture through rave, ambient, driving techno, and atmospheric instrumentals.
His work might quietly fly under the radar, noticed only by arthouse movie enthusiasts and techno fans, but it deserves to be spotlit, awarded, and celebrated. Not least because Jaar’s music has also served as a tool of political advocacy. Whether composing for “Democracy EP: New Friends Vol. 2” in 2009, or performing live for Democracy Now! in October this year, the Palestinian-Chilean artist has fearlessly reminded us - in music, in written words, and in interviews, that our freedom to shape our governments, policies, communities, and our nations ultimately, is not a fait accompli.
As far back as 2016, on the album “Sirens”, Jaar’s track “No” was inspired by the 1988 campaign to overthrow Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. His parents both emigrated from Chile. His father, Alfredo Jaar, is a conceptual artist and architect. His mother, Evelyne Meynard, is a French Chilean writer and ex-dancer. The family has roots back to Bethlehem, Palestine.
In the Democracy Now! Interview, Jaar said: “…the news cycle has largely, in a way, forgotten that there is an ongoing genocide, to this day, in Palestine. And in a sense, these moments of musicians speaking out can, hopefully, bring a little — shed a little bit of light on this continuing horror and catastrophe that is happening and still happening, all thanks to and with the financial help of this country, of the American country.”
Before racing off to listen to Jaar’s interview and performance, which you ought to (later), some context for the musician/producer/DJ and composer’s work is due. There’s too much to cover in comprehensive details considering his eight studio albums, plus official soundtracks, and countless remixes of everyone from Brian Eno, Cat Power, Kanye West, Lydia Lunch to Grateful Dead, Missy Elliott and Michael Jackson.
So, if you listen to one Jaar soundtrack in addition to a handful of remixes and his live performance and interview for Democracy Now!, then make it Jaar’s incredible, club-ready soundtrack for director Pablo Larrain’s 2019 indie film “Ema” (the official soundtrack was released in 2021).
The film depicts a young, single mother whose entire life and identity - that of a professional contemporary dancer - is thrown into turmoil by the demands of early motherhood, the breakdown of her romantic relationship with her controlling boyfriend - and boss, near-poverty standards of living, and sexual manipulation of colleagues and potential sources of finance and a home. The reckless, wild thrill of dancing in the studio and the street pulses, throbs and grinds through Jaar’s layered, thrilling techno tracks. But the soundtrack is sprawling in its mood, often finding ambient, atmospheric soundscapes that feel thick with loneliness, reflection and evening melancholy. Jaar is a maestro of using silence, space, and the promise of emptiness like a loaded atom to build a universe in the listener’s imagination. When he’s not skittering a synthy melody across a scene, or pounding a dance scene with big, bouncing bass, there’s a sense of loaded, dangerous quietness. Jaar will both haunt you, and have you bringing down the house within less than an hour of a soundtrack, or an album.
In his interview with Democracy Now!, Jaar poignantly reminded us of the power of music, and lyrics, to remind us we are not alone (an increasingly, creeping sense of disconnectedness is pervading this tech-driven world, don’t you feel it?).
He says: “One thing that kind of blows my mind to this day about songs — for example, this song, “Sólo le Pido a Dios” — is that it’s a melody that is recognizable, that speaks to a certain feeling, and it can be used in order to tell a message. It can be used to bring people together. And it’s a technology, in a sense, not in the tech way that we talk about, but it is a technology. And I feel like it is a technology of resistance, of course, and it must be. It’s not the only one, and it’s not enough, I would say. But I do think that music speaks through so many layers. And I’m invested in all of those layers, not only the musical layer or the harmonic layer, but also in all the other ways that music can create a small change or just hold someone’s hand, which is enough sometimes.”
