The Forest Primeval - A Conversation with Daniel Paahaus and Alex Luquet

Lehigh Valley Arts Podcast

Daniel Paashaus was born and raised in Coopersburg, went away to college. He studied English literature and writing at Temple University and Temple's Rome Campus. While there, he immersed himself in film culture, stop motion animation, and self-portrait photography. He spent time in New Mexico at the Santa Fe Photography Workshops and as a resident artist at Millersville University. Afterward, he ended up back in Bethlehem, as part of the Wired Artist Co-op. He left Bethlehem, and the LV art scene to pursue farm work, which is around the same time he completed his first short film, Katabasis, which went on to be shown at Lehigh University as part of their "Visions" lecture series. In 2015, Daniel and his wife started their own farm in Quakertown. Running his own vegetable growing operation gives Daniel years full of time to plan and map out film projects in his head. When working on art, Daniel goes by Paas-haus. To keep up with Daniel, you can follow him on Instagram at @paas_haus and his farm at @pansforest. His website is paas-haus.com/.

Alex Luquet is a bass player that's lived in Bethlehem since 2011. He's performed locally and nationally with a wide variety of musicians including Dominic Angelella, Cold Fronts, John Morgan Kimock, and William H. Travis. Alex releases his own albums under the band name Sailcloth, focusing the music on my upright bass. He has also done sound design and composition for film and video games as well. To keep up to date with Alex, you can follow him on Instagram at @alexluquet and @sailclothsounds. You can follow him on Bandcamp at sailcloth.bandcamp.com/.

Alex Luquet and Daniel started collaborating a few years ago on an ongoing series of short films, using each other's films and music as inspiration. They share a love of nature and an organic approach to art making, giving the pieces a unified aesthetic where the audio and video play equal parts. Currently, Alex and Daniel are compiling their efforts into a performance entitled The Forest Primeval.

The Forest Primeval is the product of a years long collaboration between musician and composer Alex Luquet (aka Sailcloth) and filmmaker Daniel Paashaus (Paas-haus). This original performance showcases the duo’s short films, photography, spoken word, and live music. Alex will be performing unreleased solo work, including a live score to some of the films, and will be releasing his new EP, Resting Fields. The Forest Primeval will premiere at The Ice House in Bethlehem on February 3rd, 2023. Gallery opens at 7:00 with beverages. Show begins at 8:00 with music, video, and words. Tickets are $10 at the door. More info at paas-haus.com/. The address of The Ice House is 56 River St, Bethlehem, PA 18018.

The songs at the open and close of today's episode were provided by Sailcloth off the upcoming EP Resting Fields. The opening is titled Silver Star and is the first single off the project. The closing song is titled Earth in Earth and will be available to purchase and stream once the full EP comes out. To preorder the project, check out the Bandcamp page for the project at sailcloth.bandcamp.com/album/resting-fields.