Fresh and stimulating…Irish guitarist Dave Flynn’s Winter Variations just released is a bit of a discovery.  - Stephen Graham, Marlbank

Frisbee Records are pleased to announce a music video competition based on ‘Winter Variations’, the latest album by award-winning guitarist/composer Dave Flynn.

This is an independent competition aimed primarily at emerging/student film makers, professional video makers are welcome to enter also.

The competition offers the following prizes.

1. First Prize – A cash prize of €300 and the prize-winning film maker will see their video and their name promoted internationally by Frisbee Records in tandem with ‘Winter Variations’.

2. Category Winners –The best videos for each ‘Winter Variation’ will be featured in promotional campaigns and a long form album video which will connect 9 videos into one film.

3. First Prize winner and category winners will be given priority consideration for future Frisbee Records video promo work.

Requirements

1. The process is simple. Given modern technology it is now relatively easy to make interesting videos to accompany music releases. So we are looking for creative, visually stunning short films that will complement and enhance the music of ‘Winter Variations’.

2. Competitors are asked to create original videos for at least one track from ‘Winter Variations’. Competitors are allowed to make videos for as many tracks as they wish. Complete album sequences will be considered.

3. At the end of the process we will select our favourite video for each track on ‘Winter Variations’ as a category winner and then we will choose an overall First Prize winner.

4. To enter competitors simply have to purchase the enhanced digital album for €10; that is the entry fee. Then they can create videos around their chosen tracks and submit the video links through the application form here by January 31st 2015.

Winter Variations may be purchased on Bandcamp here http://daveflynn.bandcamp.com/album/winter-variations

Please note the suggested price on Bandcamp is €7 however to enter this competition you must pay at least €10 for the album as the entry fee. The option to pay extra is given at checkout.

5. Videos must not contain use of any unauthorised copyright material. If copyright material is used we will seek proof of clearance rights being paid for by the film maker.

6. Film makers wishing to use images, archive film featuring Dave Flynn must first inquire as to the copyright status of these by emailing frisbeerecords [at] gmail.com

7. Please note it is NOT important to include images or video footage of Dave Flynn in the videos. It is more important to have creative visuals that complement the music.

The best videos will be posted to Dave Flynn’s website www.daveflynn.com and social media pages as they come to us and viewer reaction will help us make the final decision. So the sooner you send us the videos the more time you have to make an impact.

About Dave Flynn and Winter Variations:

Featured exclusively upon its release by WNYC Broadcaster and Pulitzer Prize Chair John Schaefer and RTE Lyric FM Broadcaster Carl Corcoran, ‘Winter Variations’ is a mesmerising new album for solo electric guitar in which Dave Flynn evokes winter soundscapes through eight spontaneously improvised compositions and one sound collage, all of which are based around a single chord ‘A Major 9’. Flynn’s eclectic style on the album has been compared to Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Steve Reich and Brian Eno.

Described as a ‘masterful guitarist’ in Sing Out! Magazine, award-winning guitarist/composer Dave Flynn has been praised internationally for the ‘power and grittiness’ (New York Times) of his work.

Founder and Artistic Director of the uniquely Irish Clare Memory Orchestra, Flynn has worked with such leading artists as Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill (The Gloaming), Crash Ensemble, The Smith; Vanbrugh and Contempo String Quartets, Irish Chamber Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Rolf Hind, Irina Muresanu, New Juilliard Ensemble, the Prague Chamber Orchestra and Grammy winning producer Judith Sherman.

He has performed both solo and with the Clare Memory Orchestra internationally from Moscow to Japan, Germany to Estonia, New York to London and his music is regularly heard on radio.

His awards include the 2002 IMRO Composition award and the 2004 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival Composers’ Award.

In the liner notes Flynn describes the process of creating ‘Winter Variations’:

‘The concept for this album came out of the blue, the blue of the night. One night, soon after returning from a trip to New York, I was listening, as I often do, to the RTÉ Lyric FM show The Blue of the Night, presented by Carl Corcoran. Carl often plays tracks from my previous solo guitar album ‘Contemporary Traditional Irish Guitar.’ That night I thought it was high time I recorded a new album. But what to do? I had to find inspiration for something new.

A highlight of my New York trip was a visit to the Guggenheim Museum and its main exhibition – Zero: Countdown to Tomorrow. This exhibition focused on the work of the Zero Art Movement, which was founded by Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and others in the 1950’s. Reacting against the dominant expressionism of the time, they sought to break free by, according to Piene, finding “pure possibilities for a new beginning as at the countdown when rockets take off – zero is the incommensurable zone in which the old state turns into the new.”

 In their work the Zero artists broke free from conventional art practice and developed their own methods, beginning with monochromes, developing these with lighting, mechanics and fire painting. The Guggenheim Exhibition was a stunning display of their vision.

It is only after recording this album I realised that the Zero Exhibition subconsciously inspired its creation, because the way I created it is like returning to zero. I sat down with a blank canvas and started painting and sculpting new music with my fingers, my electric guitar and some guitar effects.

I didn’t prepare anything, I didn’t write anything down on a score. I just started with one idea; that each piece would begin with the same fundamental chord, the Zero chord (AMajor9). The only other rule is that I wouldn’t change key and would keep A as the fundamental root note. I also used some special effects whilst recording. I improvised with the natural vibrations of each sound.

That’s it; I just pressed record and started playing.

The resultant music is something new to me, whilst I can hear echoes of some of my influences and past compositional stylistic traits, the whole method of composing this music is new to me and it has been incredibly liberating. I’ve returned to Zero.

I dedicate ‘Winter Variations’ to the vision of Heinz Mack and Otto Piene and also to Celia who shared that wonderful NYC trip with me.

Dave Flynn, Winter 2014

www.daveflynn.com