Dirge for Déjà Vu was composed in Oberlin, Ohio (2007). “Déjà vu” is the uncanny feeling that the current moment has happened before. But what is the feeling when the past is not as present as it should be? Imagine hearing people speak a foreign language at a train station and thinking, ‘Don't I know that language? Didn't I study it for many years? Wasn't I fluent? I hear familiar consonants and vowels but they don't form words that I recognize.’ This piece is a dirge for missing a sense of déjà vu. This is what happens when we smell fresh summer rain on hot pavement but don’t remember why children love bare feet. This is what happens when the body bags come home without protest.
© fWMp 2007