"There's a certain probability that any music is going to fall in and out of sync with any film, and that's something that we're trying to operate on, as opposed to doing a specific score," explains Licht (whose solo album Plays Well was released on this writer's label). "One thing that has reminded me of the relationship between the films and our improvisations is the mosh pit. Slam dancing is not necessarily in time to music; it's more a physical reaction to the energy. In a way, the Brakhage films are the slam dancers, and we're the hardcore band. That's also true of Merce Cunningham's dance pieces with John Cage; the dances and the music have nothing to do with each other, and that's the kind of the point, that you don't have to choreograph things exactly to anything in the music."
Text of Light began in 1999, when a string of correspondences initiated by saxophonist Ulrich Kreiger led to a show at New York's Tonic by Kreiger, Licht, Ranaldo, drummer William Hooker, and turntabilist Christian Marclay. Soon after, Ranaldo and Licht made Text of Light a recurring unit, expanding to include turntabilists DJ Olive and Marina Rosenfeld and drummer Tim Barnes. The group performs in a variety of lineups, usually as a quintet, but occasionally as a trio or quartet. "Since we use a lot of the same films, if it were the same exact people playing every time, it may not generate the same kind of fresh results," explains Licht. "Lee and I are the only people who've played almost every performance, and even our own approaches have changed."
Some have questioned the ethics of playing music with films meant to be screened silently. "There has been some controversy, which was ultimately interesting," says Ranaldo.
