Taking part in a panel to exchange ideas about somatic design practices at the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) Conference got me thinking about new ways to harness body awareness in composition and instrument design.
Image credit: Juan Martinez Avila; Doga Cavdir; Courtney Reed; Mary Mainsbridge; Kelsey Cotton; Tove Grimstad Bang; Lucia Montesinos Garcia
I talked about how vocal sketching helps me observe and understand upper body sensations throughout the chest, throat and lungs so that I can regulate my posture and tone. To become more attuned to these sensations, not only do I record embryonic and developing ideas, I also document the sensations that accompany them. Later, when I listen to them, I note the link between particular feelings and vocal features, from tightness and resistance causing thin and strained tones to relaxed humming leading to fluid and unfettered drones.
I eventually want to depict these connections in an application that can be used to improvise, compose and design vocal systems.
•February 27, 2023 • Comments Off on Youbeme album out on March 3, 2023
Youbeme, the fifth Deprogram album, is coming out on March 3, 2023. It is a privilege to partner with experimental and left-field Australian label, Provenance for this release. Blending movement-generated synthscapes with processed vocals, metronomic and uneven polyrhythms, the album captures explorations with custom gestural instruments and mixing systems.
The LP can be downloaded and streamed through Provenance here.
Deprogram’s dark electronic track, Intangible Spaces combines gestural instrument experiments with intricate drum and bass grooves. It’s out now on Provenance, which has a huge week of new releases planned by a range of artists including Sebastian Field, Aphir and Sandy Hsu.
Intangible Spaces, the first single from the forthcoming album, Yoube.me is out on Tuesday, October 4 through Provenance, along with a suite of other album, EP and single releases from artists in the collective. Written and mixed by Mary Mainsbridge, the ethereal track combines the embodied sounds of the Telechord, a unique gestural instrument that enables body movements to generate and manipulate sound synthesis, processed vocals, the electronic drums of Robbie Mudrazija and the dark bass rhythms of Meeghan Oliver.
Originally composed for the Vivid Festival and later performed as a solo piece at the Sound and Music Computing Festival in Limassol Cyprus, this semi-improvised version was performed in one take, capturing evolving musical conversations between the three players.
•March 1, 2022 • Comments Off on New track on Provenance compilation
‘Alignment’ is out now on the new Provenance compilation. Provenance is a an artist-run collective and label who will be hosting the next Deprogram album release later this year.
The compilation features vocal and instrumental pieces by Provenance alumni, Sebastian Field, Arrom, Sandy Hsu, Imogen Cygler, Lack the Low, and Aphir, as well as contributions from friends of the collective mookoid, Chrome Twin, romæo and LÂLKA.
All proceeds from sales of the compilation will be donated to Disability Justice Network Mutual Aid Fund (www.gofundme.com/f/disability-justice-network-mutual-aid-fund) to assist with providing material and financial aid to disabled people in Australia.
We’ll be presenting Data Lies, a new work at the Good Space Festival in spring. Responding to a world that is becoming increasingly data centric, the live interactive piece explores alternatives to the digital surveillance of human movement, online activity, purchasing habits and facial features.
Good Space has been revitalising forgotten urban spaces with grass roots cultural events since a successful first season at the Rocks in 2021.
•November 25, 2021 • Comments Off on Next Performance at Woodburn Creatives
Please join us for a live streaming performance at art, music, design space, Woodburn Creatives in Redfern on Saturday December 4, 2021. After several postponements due to extended Covid lockdowns, we are pleased to be improvising live again.
Unfortunately, the Vivid Sydney Festival of Light, Music and Ideas was cancelled in 2021 due to Covid lockdown restrictions. We are planning a new event for 2022 that incorporates spatial audio and reactive visuals and will share details here soon. Luckily the motion sensing technology we use means that people can interact with our works remotely and safely, without touching any shared surfaces. We will keep you posted about upcoming developments.
Until then, we will be performing at Woodburn Creatives Art Music Design Space in early December 2021.
