A Symphony of Noise

A film about and with Matthew Herbert, a British electronic musician and activist. In this documentary, the director accompanies Herbert through his creative process of an idiosyncratic project: writing a book in which each chapter painstakingly describes a piece of music and it’s up to the reader to imagine the symphony.

Matthew Herbert is one of the most versatile and visionary musicians and artists of our time. Herbert’s premise is that music has undergone a revolution. As a musician, he feels the responsibility to change or challenge people's perception of what they hear. A Symphony of Noise shows us how Herbert produces music not only with instruments, but above all with anything that makes a sound: objects, noises and countless trivial things from our daily life: the sound we make when we bite into an apple, a tooth pulled out, feet stepping on objects, a tree falling, oil boiling in a deep fryer. Often combining these sounds with instruments, synthesizers or even joining big bands, the British musician takes us inside his soundscapes and shows us what really matters: listening. A Symphony of Noise makes us listen to music while making us hear the world and perceive the world through its own sounds. (Helena César)