Deep Cuts: Experimental & Electronic

Roadside Apparition explores the iconic desert landscapes of Arizona through sound. Processed layers of electric guitar conjure memories of a forgotten time, of seemingly endless roads and the romanticized landscape of the American West. Field recordings and found-object percussion create a sense of space and mystery. Sonic mirages occur as seemingly solid sounds vaporize into clouds of echo and reverberation.

The track was inspired by the painting 'Refracted Oasis' by Laura Spaulding Best. The track will be featured at the exhibition, I see what your seeing at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing arts starting on January 17th.

Cover Art: Refracted Oasis by Laura Spaulding Best

Roadside Apparition

In Place is an exploration of the sounds of home and the mental states that arise from being sheltered in place. The source material for the piece are recordings of pots, glasses, running water, and a dog barking at a broom. These familiar sounds are then altered in both size and texture. A major theme explored is the transformation of states of matter: solids become liquid, and liquids become frozen and crystalline. Through the (d)evolution of sounds, In Place explores the constant flux of perception of the external world and the internal worlds of thought, memory, and daydreams. 

I recorded all sounds using a stereo pair of Røde M5 microphones. I used GRM Tools plugins, Spear, and RX to edit and process the sound creating a folder of sonic assets that I used to construct the piece. The piece was arranged and mixed using Reaper, IEM Ambisonic plugins.  In Place follows a palindromic form based around material: ceramic, glass, water, straw/animal, water, glass, ceramic.

In Place (Binaural Mix)

This piece is an exploration of timbre and gesture. All sounds were recorded by playing the same note (E5) on various guitars, using different articulations, bowed, picked, and fingers. Using GRM tools, iZotope RX, and Logic, the sounds were processed and reimagined to construct the piece's form. The title is inspired by Timothy Morton's Hyperobjects. In his book, Morton uses the mundane phrase "objects in mirror are closer than they appear" as a metaphor for the closeness of hyperobjects (climate change, nuclear waste) in the age of the Anthropocene. There is no longer an "over there" or an "away." We find ourselves close, at times uncomfortably so, with the surrounding world. 

Cover Art: Mirror by Alice Guareschi

Deep Cuts: Experimental & Electronic

Devin Arne