Catching me totally unprepared, Celer´s gorgeous piece The Die That´s Caste (recorded in 2007), concludes with some dialogue from Michaelangelo Antonioni´s 1975 film, ”The Passenger”: “Can I ask you one question now?” “One you can, yes.” “Only one, always the same. What are you running away from?” Which leaves me wondering if I´ve gotten it entirely wrong.
It´s a startlingly downbeat end to a piece which absolutely shimmers with light and orchestral richness. As usual, the duo blended an array of instruments – in this instance, theremin, strings, electronics, bells and tapes and samples – into a purr, which rises, rises, or perhaps comes closer, until it fills the entire frame. In doing so, it becomes lighter, brighter, like a sunrise. When, as the melody has expanded so large that it swells beyond melody and has become completely amorphous, the exchange is spoken, and the enchantment pops like an overfilled balloon.
Perhaps I was fooled; perhaps this is not meant to be uplifting. It´s title, strangely misspelling the common phrase ”the die has been cast”, is itself a metaphor to express no going back. The necessary choice has been made, it´s too late to change your mind. And now it becomes a sobering record. Though no less breathtakingly beautiful.