Yannis Kyriakides — Lunch Music

Over the years there has been more than a few attempts to mix the often perverse, challenging & inventive literary works of William S Burroughs work, with various forms of music. To name a few we had Bill Laswell’s Material, and it’s release Seven Souls- which saw Burroughs reading excepts from his 1987 novel The Western Lands over a blend of experimental rock, world music blends, and beat-bound cinmatics. Or the Industrial hip hop meets spoken word Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales- the 1993 collaboration between Burroughs & experimental Hip-Hop two piece The Disposable Heroes of Hypocrisy. Lunch Music is Yannis Kyriakides  attempt at blending Mr Burrough’s work with modern experimental composition, that brings together male voice work, percussion, and subtle electronics

I first became aware of to this Cypriot composer/ sound artists work five or so years back with the release of Antichamber( also on Unsounds). This two CD set was a wonderfully collection of varied, highly creative, yet often melody rich and dramatic sounding modern composition. So when I saw he was attempting to sonically channel one of my favourite authors I was keen to hear the results.

Lunch Music takes in ten tracks, and a running time of just over a hour. And as it’s title suggests the focus/ influence  here is one of  Burroughs’s most known, controversial, and influential works  1959’s Naked Lunch. Which followed the  drug hazed jounerys of junkie William Lee- through Mexico, the USA, Tangrines, and finally the Burroughs created world of Interzone. The book blended together violence, surreal Sci-fi, homosexual imagery, detective/ Totalitarian plot-lines, and the Cut-up technique to creating a visionary, dizzying, disturbing, & highly original work.

Much of Lunch Music sonic focus is around three male singer’s voice- one tenor, one baritone, and the other bass-baritone. Added to this we get edgy & improvised percussive detail, subtle electro manipulations, turntable elements, and a few scant samples of Burroughs voice.

The texts the singers present take in Burrough-like cut-up, featuring themes & focuses from the book. And pretty much all of the tracks are fairly lose & stripped in their feel, often coming off like bizarre & perverse barbershop quartet meets stripped yet slightly quirky modern composition.

The CD comes in a classy looking fold-out digital-pak, which features close-up shots of human flesh with effective & minimal spot varnish shapes on top. You also a 16 page inlay booklet detailing the pieces ideas/ themes, as well as full texts.

In summing up I can’t say Lunch Music was a total success, as at times it felt a little too sparse, skeletal & samey for it’s own good. But I certainly appreciate what Kyriakides attempting to do here, and it’s definitely an interesting experimental- for those who enjoy Burroughs’s work & stripped modern composition.