Jim Jarmusch met the Dutch minimalist composer and lute player Jozef Van Wissem on the streets of New York city in 2006, and after realizing they had much in common, they began collaborating together on a music project, releasing their Concerning the Entrance Into Eternity LP in 2011 on Important Records. This week, on Wednesday, November 16th, the two will return with The Mystery of Heaven LP via Sacred Bones, six long-form tracks that even include a collaboration with Tilda Swinton. Jarmusch has explained that he thinks of these as Van Wissem’s tracks, and that he plays a background role in their creation. He offers,
“The sound of the lute is as bright as the sun, a beautiful red color and my stuff sounds sort of like the moon, more like blue, like mercury.”
Today the duo released a video for the album’s opening track “Etimasia“, directed by Jacqueline Castel. Sepia-toned and bathed in lunar mist, the video features Van Wissem on lute and Jarmusch on guitar, as the two perform in what appears to be an austere church setting. The title of the track is based on a Greek word for the “Preparation of the Throne” or “ready throne”, a symbol found throughout ancient art, and visually, Castel echoes this with gorgeous shots of an “empty throne”, and an approaching eclipse that builds drama into her video.
