Cabin Music
74 min – feature documentary film
Produced & Directed by James Carson
Executive Producer Julian Cautherley
Film Sales: Monoduo Films
Publicity: Ry Levey
DOC NYC – World Premiere
Salem Film Fest – Edit Award Winner
After walking away from the conservatory, pianist James Carson backpacks overland from Spain to Japan. At the center of the story is the unusual off-grid cabin in the Canadian wilderness that James designs and builds by hand upon his return. It is here, away from everything, that a new form of music emerges.
A supremely immersive visual experience.
American Society of Cinematographers
A symphony has been created.
Orcasound
“A lyrical, genre-defying feast for the senses, Cabin Music is a testament to the twin transcendent powers of music and nature.”
DOC NYC
“A sublime fusion of piano performance, environment, cinematography, sound recording, and film montage weave themselves together into a subconscious tapestry of experience and being inviting us not just into the cabin but into all the spaces and places that constructed the life of the cabin.”
The Independent Critic
“A one of a kind experience… A beautiful film, truly exploratory and poetic. The music is wonderfully evocative of inner and outer states of being, which approach bliss.”
POV Magazine
“An intensely beautiful project of musical and visual investigation.”
Mystery Catalog
“The rhapsodic editing of the myriad, gorgeous images and intricate sounds, music included, created a haunting, intense meditation.”
Salem Film Fest
“An intriguing, transformative meditation willed into existence by an artist fully committed to channeling unknowable natural forces through his own music and onto the screen.”
Film School Radio
“More than practice, he was looking to make music from a different perspective, blurring the lines between improvisation and composition, and taking away the barrier between audience and performer.”
LUDWIG VAN TORONTO
C’est une sorte de voyage initiatique d’un musicien prodige, qui décide de parcourir le monde à la recherche du lien entre l’énergie universelle de la musique et de la nature. Comme une quête de sens dans un univers de production musicale souvent étouffé dans les normes ou les impératifs purement commerciaux.
Musical Écran
Gorgeous widescreen landscapes and contemplative shots of nature are juxtaposed with shots of frenetic urban activity, producing a Zen-like meditation on the elusive nature of musical creativity. The abundance of otherworldly images is expertly edited, lending a sense of musicality to the visual rhythms. In sum, Cabin Music is a poetic journey through the mind of its creator, and a supremely immersive visual experience.
American Society of Cinematographers
“One of a kind… a meditation on how music is made and why we are creative… demanding of our attention.”
Unseen Films
“It is the type of film that you go into thinking you won’t be able to connect with and then you do. Beauty and wisdom win you over. The poetry created by the sound and visuals soothe the soul. James Carson is not the only one who can heal as a result of the film… A symphony has been created.”
Orcasound
“We are forced to sit and simply be in the present moment – with this film… It truly engages our senses and puts us in a state of awareness which, in our fast-paced world, is very much needed. A truly engaging sensory experience.”
HYE’S MUSINGS
“A technical-artistic tour de force, the picture speaks directly from the subconscious, where piano tone, environment, cinematography, sound recording, and film montage all flow from the same hands, eyes, and heart, allowing the viewer to see and breathe the world as James did on his journey, and as he continues to do in his cabin and in New York to the present day.”