Basically this is an exercise in watered down ideas both from Derek Bailey and Stan Brakhage. Experiments with light and guitar are the attempt, a drawing of a spiritual parallel between the two where they meet in improvisation. In that sense, “Fakerie” is a worthy effort, though neither the visuals nor the sonics amount to much, even for minimalism.

Rachel Shearer electroacoustic pieces are in a way undermined by the film, which is a series of white lights pulsing now bright, now dim; the effect is intended to be celestial, but often seems like studio lights in the ceiling being teased by a guy with a fetish for the light switch. The tediousness makes one hope for relief from the music, if only as a distraction. It doesn’t deliver, and you are trapped in a void.

This has all been done better, by the likes of Alvin Lucier, Bailey, and a slew of other improvisers and sound sculptors. Shearer herself has done much more powerful work with Anglehead, and on her own as Lovely Midget.

“Fakerie” literally aims for the stars, trying to find and explore the natural rhythms of light and sound.

Nothing here implies she was able to squeeze much inspiration out of what she found. The DVD also comes with a twenty page booklet, which is a long-winded, occasionally academic treatise on phantasms and fakeries. As read, it suggests that more thought went into the concept than the delivery. 6/10 -- Mike Wood (1 April, 2009)