The Deafening Veil

J. Doursou reflects on the cognitive veil that detaches many of us from the horrors of war.

On February 24th 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Unlike many of us, Doursou could not call on the refuge of emotional distance as he watched the violence unfold; his close friend, Elena, called Ukraine home. Despite the unyielding bombardment of her homeland, Elena refused Doursou's offer of sanctuary in France. "I know I could and maybe I should," she explained, "but honestly if I have to die fighting for my land, then I will".

Paralysed by the twin bind of geographic distance and emotional proximity, Doursou began to create what would later be named 'Song for Elena'. In setting his anxiety down in music, Doursou found himself pulling at a thread that connected him and his family to other histories of violent conflict in Eastern Europe. In turning to face these histories, he was struck by the tendency of so many in the West to move through life untouched by the immense horror of war, wilfully ignorant of its looming presence. "It's just like a veil we put over our eyes," he writes, "a blindfold so we can keep on living our quiet lives".

The Deafening Veil is the sound of these ideas wrought out through oppressive walls of electronic noise, punctured – as conflict is – by hopeful melody