Cities + Memories: Obsolete Sounds Project

I was drawn to the mathematical precision of the sample “Calculating Machine”, using it as the foundation for my reimagined composition “Algebra applies to the clouds”. I pictured the disappearing sound floating away into into the clouds as they reflect in a calm lake. A fitting farewell to a soon to be extinct sound. The sound may no longer be common in todays urban world, but it goes on to live another life somewhere, somehow. Composing the layered tracks, I used mathematical patterns, created in the moment, that opened up the possibility of chance to hopefully capture the beauty of this calculated randomness . Like all of my music, this was a sound experiment without preconceived intentions. It can also be looped to create a soundtrack for ones imagination. Close your eyes, listen and float away.

Algebra Applies To The Clouds

Ümlaut is Jeff Düngfelder, a U.S. experimental composer/sound artist now based in the northern Connecticut countryside. The thematic concepts distinguishing his work are absence and silence; the ineffable exchange between viewer and image; random moments of stillness within a landscape in flux. Using a minimalistic, electro-acoustic approach, his elusive patchwork of field recordings and electronics merge the world of shadows and colours. His memory recordings expose the complex relationship between music and silence. 

In addition to his solo recordings as Ümlaut, Jeff Düngfelder mixes his own electronica with downtempo and jazz elements as a member of Intelligent Life, the trio that equally features Mike Brown on contrabass, and Joshua Trinidad on trumpet.