Nathan Wells: The sound elements are comprised of: sample of sounds of my M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (her name was Lolita) firing, captured sounds from WILL 90.1 fm radio of monastic women's voices, field recording of Cicadas in the summer time, 303 bassline synthesizer Narrative: Lolita performs a cadenza in the opening of the sequence. Her spats sound like the crackle of a raging furnace fire. This sound hearkens back to her 6 hour performance on April 9th, 2004 on Main Supply Route Tampa in Iraq. The monastic sound of women's voices cycle represent a trained display of appreciation and reverence for Lolita, the prima donna of this sequence. Cicadas are warm memories of home that a soldier carries but also the violence of nature that a soldier must endure in the field away from home (Cicadas manifest an aggressive tone at 1:45). The quantized and driving bassline of the 303 synthesizer relentlessly pulses through the sequence moving through menacing and questioning tones without time to process, similar to emotions through a traumatic experience.

Lolita's Song Seq1a

Ghosts of War