On the Nature of Daylight

• “On the Nature of Daylight” is a track from Richter’s second solo album, The Blue Notebooks (2004). The album is named after Franz Kafka’s Blue Octavo Notebooks, texts of which are narrated within the album.

The Blue Notebooks “reflected on my sense of the politics of the time. Facts were beginning to be replaced by subjective assertions in the build-up to the Iraq war, which seemed to be viewed as inevitable and justified in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. Kafka’s use of the absurd to investigate power structures struck me as highly relevant. He is, of course, the patron saint of doubt, and doubt – about politics, and the way society was heading – was what I was looking to express. The texts were specifically picked because they refer to childhood, or the passing of time, when everything around is failing.”

Max Richter, on his Blue Notebooks Album¹

• “On the Nature of Daylight” achieved fame beyond this album because it was used in a couple films: Scorsese’s Shutter Islandand Villeneuve’s Arrival.

1. “Max Richter: The Blue Notebooks (15^th Anniversary Reissue),” MaxRichterMusic.com, accessed January 7, 2020, https://www.maxrichtermusic.com/albums/the-blue-notebooks-15th-anniversary-reissue/.