With so much anxiety and uncertainty in the world this year, Rick Sparkes found comfort in the beauty of 19th-century French painter Paul Cézanne’s work. Sparkes channelled that beauty into a vivid aural picture on “Cezanne”.
Sparkes says that he was introduced to the work of Cézanne while taking an art history course at the University of New Brunswick Saint John and from faculty member Anne Compton, who wrote about Cézanne in poems such as Familiarity with Male Painters, and Poems for Paintings.
“I’m by no means an expert on art theory or expressionism, but I was drawn to the idea of exploring the afterlife in this unconventional way. It allowed me to draw these wonderful connections to some of Cézanne’s darker works,” says Sparkes.
Sparkes says the lyrics are about two naive young lovers who wander through a world of one Cézanne painting after another.
“I wrote ‘Cézanne’ this past July when the world just seemed so fraught with vitriol and fury that I think my mind just instinctively recoiled and created this fanciful, albeit listless, version of heaven,” says Sparkes.
“They inhabit a world that is both beautiful and constant, but ultimately devoid of any potential for transformation, and as tragic as it is, I think I was finding a certain level of comfort in that idea. I sometimes allow myself to wallow far too long in my own anxieties and depressive episodes, so writing ‘Cézanne’ was a way for me to alter that trajectory at that particular moment,” says Sparkes.
As well as the very literal allusion to Sparkes’ imagined heaven; the setting for the performance, St. John’s church in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, adds to the idyllic sound with its calm atmosphere and bright stained glass backdrop.
If Sparkes is wallowing in his anxieties during this performance, it’s unnoticeable.
Despite the sparse instrumentation of two guitars and a shaker, the arrangement features lush vocal harmonies from Sparkes and Ruth Ann MacMurdo. Electric guitarist Danny Drouin compliments Sparke’s and MacMurdo’s vocals with simple single-note lines drenched in reverb and delay.
Throughout the song, Sparkes makes references to Cézanne’s paintings; Maincy Bridge, Chateau Noir, The Hanged Man’s House in Auvers, and The Boy in the Red Vest; along with the Musee d’Orsay, which houses much of Cezanne’s work; as well as the song “Snowing in Manhattan” by David Berman.
When looking at Cézanne’s work, one can see how Sparkes found inspiration and comfort in the post-impressionistic paintings. Many depict landscapes that are both calm, lush, and serene; yet have a hint of darkness, much like Sparkes’ intent behind his lyrics.
The studio version of “Cézanne” will be on Rick Sparkes + The Enablers’ sophomore album, Pleasure in the Pathless Woods, scheduled for release in March 2021,