Cancamon is built upon four songs: Zabelle Panosian’s 'Groung', 'There is a Balm in Gilead' and 'Blasé' by Jeanne Lee & Archie Shepp and 'Something’s Coming' by Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake.
Each of these songs were chosen for their particular affective hold over Tolmie, their capacity to perpetually ‘work’ upon her body both in soothing, absorbing and intensive ways.
Throughout this audiovisual piece, she holds these samples within her body, using taut movements and vocality to feel through notions of the word ‘balm’ and how it might relate to the female singing voice. This particular attention is paid to the communication of the singing voice and its capacity to entice beyond comfortable listening. In Tolmie's description of the performance, a cry is characterised as ‘somewhere between a moan, a dampened scream, an old dial up tone and the sound of a whistling kettle’.
Cancamon is elusive and deeply personal. The locations where the work was shot are revisited Stockholm grounds where Jeanne Lee both performed and recorded – The Golden Circle, part of ABF (Workers Educational Association), and Borgarskolan, now Sollévi,-huset, a health and treatment centre. The choice of these spaces reflect Tolmie’s mission to place herself within the context of the sounds she both listens to and performs.
The text 'The Permanent Yes', by Mira Mattar was commissioned published for Cancamon, and is available in Lydgalleriet's listening library. Curated by Julie Lillelien Porter and co-produced by Lydgalleriet.