Connection lost

This spatial sound work was commissioned to kick off the International Year of Sound 2020 the by the UK Acoustics Network, and produced in collaboration with Alexia Charoud for a 33- speaker array by the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at Southampton University.

The role of sound as a mechanism for programming spaces has carried through my work since Possessed Objects in 2014. Separating sounds into distinct zones within a space enabled a form of spatial programming purely through sound. More than a demonstration of technology, I also wanted to communicate an artistic and critical message. The piece tells a story of environmental and acoustic degradation: Beginning under the sea, surfacing, then moving onto land replicates a primal evolutionary narrative. While in the forest, we begin to hear a barking dog, then human sounds, before moving gradually into a noisy urban environment. A slamming door created an abrupt transition, then domestic sounds turn into a dreamscape, which then transitions smoothly back to the undersea environment. Charoud reads a poem i wrote, in French and English, and also mastered the whole piece, being a sound engineer as well as a talented musician.