Alexandre Klinke is a composer and media artist from Sao Paulo, Brazil, based in Vancouver, BC. His work encompasses different fields such as media art, music for film, sound design and performance.
He releases music under his own name, and also using the alias Playback Head, an experimental music project that marks a departure from the Brazilian/Worldbeat characteristics of his previous work. This time his music abandons rhythm as the driving force, and focuses on timbre and sonic textures, rather than on melodic and harmonic development. Playback Head's debut album, First Sounds, consists of evocative music pieces that are quiet, abstract, and mostly beatless. They merge traditional instruments such as acoustic guitar and piano with sound-making objects and field recordings, creating an interplay between musical and environmental sounds. The album was released in December 2021 through the label Hotham Sound (Vancouver), on cassette and digital formats.
His works in video and multimedia installation explore the perceptual effects of the relationship between sound and vision, using both analog (magnetic tape, super 8 film, VHS) and digital technologies. The juxtaposition of the warm and noisy characteristics of analog equipment with the hi-fi crispness and endless possibilities of the digital medium results in a variety of textures that suggests the ambiguous nature of perception and memory. The sense of foreignness associated with the experience of immigration is also often present in his pieces, where he seeks to find connections and patterns in seemingly unrelated events, juxtaposing audio and video material from different times and places.
He releases music under his own name, and also using the alias Playback Head, an experimental music project that marks a departure from the Brazilian/Worldbeat characteristics of his previous work. This time his music abandons rhythm as the driving force, and focuses on timbre and sonic textures, rather than on melodic and harmonic development. Playback Head's debut album, First Sounds, consists of evocative music pieces that are quiet, abstract, and mostly beatless. They merge traditional instruments such as acoustic guitar and piano with sound-making objects and field recordings, creating an interplay between musical and environmental sounds. The album was released in December 2021 through the label Hotham Sound (Vancouver), on cassette and digital formats.
His works in video and multimedia installation explore the perceptual effects of the relationship between sound and vision, using both analog (magnetic tape, super 8 film, VHS) and digital technologies. The juxtaposition of the warm and noisy characteristics of analog equipment with the hi-fi crispness and endless possibilities of the digital medium results in a variety of textures that suggests the ambiguous nature of perception and memory. The sense of foreignness associated with the experience of immigration is also often present in his pieces, where he seeks to find connections and patterns in seemingly unrelated events, juxtaposing audio and video material from different times and places.
SELECTED WORKS
FILM/MULTIMEDIA
Video: Inland, 2020.
- Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen (Curated by Grunt Gallery, Vancouver)
Multimedia Project: Playback Head, 2019
- Multichannel A/V Installation presented at the Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre at SFU Woodward’s (Vancouver), Sep 8-14, 2019.
- Playback Head: Part I, presented at Fisura, Experimental Cinema & Video International Film Festival (Mexico City—Online Edition), 2020—2021.
Soundscape Composition: Atlântico—Pacífico, 2020
- Presented at the outdoor broadcast event Touch at a Distance, (organized by Public Secrets) at Hadden Park, Vancouver, July 25th, 2020.
Public Sound Art: Sixteen Sine Waves, 2019
- Presented at the event Sonologues 2019, Vancouver Public Library, July 8-12, 2019.
Soundscape Composition: Fazenda Pasto Grande, 2019
- Presented at the Music & Sound Festival at SFU Woodward’s, April 12, 2019.
Soundscape Composition: Vento, 2019
- Media Arts Committee (MAC) Commissioned Artist. Presented at the Vancouver Co-operative Radio on Jan 23rd, 2019.
Documentary: The Museum of Forgotten Triumphs, 2018 (dir: Bojan Bodruzic) – Additional Music
- Best Canadian Documentary at VIFF 2018
Short Film: Lira’s Forest, 2017 (dir: Connor Jessup)
Documentary: Brasília: Life After Design, 2017 (dir: Bart Simpson)
- Premiered at DOXA
Documentary: Piracaia, 2016 (dir: Tomaz Cavalieri and Renato Falzoni)
Feature Film: In Her Place, 2014 (dir: Albert Shin)
- Premiered at TIFF in 2014 and nominated for 7 Canadian Screen Awards in 2015.
SOUND DESIGNER/ SOUND EDITOR
Short Film: Donny the Drone, 2017 (dir: Mackenzie Sheppard)
Short Film: Man In Phone, 2016 (dir: Mackenzie Sheppard)
- Official selection at the Short Shorts Film Festival in Tokyo 2016 and winner of the Gold Screen Award at the Young Director Award event in Cannes 2016.
Short Film: Itaka, 2012 (dir: Bojan Bodruzic) – Composer/Sound Designer
ALBUMS/ EPS
As Playback Head (playbackhead.bandcamp.com)
First Sounds - December 2021
As Alexandre Klinke (alexandreklinke.bandcamp.com)
Playback Head - May 2020
Lugares - April 2016
In Her Place OST - September 2014
Checklist/Tempo EP - April 2014
Terreiro - February 2013
Loop Folklórico EP - March 2011