PREACHING NOVACAIN: Building the Bubble

Dance, repetition and temporary escape create a bubble where the outside world can wait.

An Original Instrumental Work by Marc Soucy

Once I had the idea behind Preaching Novacain, I realized that one of the oldest ways of temporarily shutting out the outside world is also one of the simplest:

Dance.

The activity, the music, the people around you and the repetition of the beat can create a bubble. For a little while, you can lose yourself inside it.

That became the musical premise.

But the video begins before we enter that bubble.

As abstract graphic patterns unfold, a young woman says:

“I know this from personal experience...numbness can be your friend at times.”

I liked the line enough to put its second half into the opening credits.

Then things get stranger.

Her voice gives way to what sounds like an old, noisy broadcast struggling through static. French and English voices overlap, talking about repeating patterns, the endlessly repeating messages that populate our environment, and the peculiar ways both can insulate and mesmerize us.

They even begin wondering whether all that repetition can make it harder to distinguish the real from the unreal. It's starting to sound rather serious.

And then a cheerful announcer breaks in: “And now it's time to let loose, and get out there before you start figuring this out!”

That's when Preaching Novacain starts settling into its purpose.

I built the piece primarily from electronic drums and synthesizers, with a techno- and funk-inspired dance foundation. A horn section occasionally bursts through, accompanied in the video by fleeting images of live horn players. Medical-lab imagery appears here and there beneath the dance graphics—little surreal reminders of the title rather than clues to some literal storyline.

And once the dance establishes its bubble, I deliberately don't puncture it.

I could have introduced something musically representing the stressful world outside. But that would defeat the purpose.

The value of the numbness bubble needs to be protected.

If you're finally inside that place where the rest of the world has receded for a few minutes, why should the music insist that you come back?

Not right away, anyway.

So Preaching Novacain became an ironically enthusiastic argument for occasionally giving ourselves permission to escape.

Sometimes personal health may even demand it.

And if you're going to escape...

you might as well dance.

Preaching Novacain arrives tomorrow, Friday, October 23.