ARTIST STATEMENT

Hey John is a sound collage of found telephone answer machine messages combined with an improvised electronic soundtrack to create a unique perspective for an auditory narrative and atmosphere.

Hey John follows the life of John and the people in it over the course of several days. His journey volleys among the mundane, the humorous, and the mysterious. We know John and his activities only through these messages, leaving us to our own conclusions. These cryptic messages float over a foggy bliss punctuated with gentle electronic points, blips and beeps. The sound scape acts as our tour guide on John's journey. 

BACKGROUND AND CREATIVE PROCESS

In the 1990s, we were involved with a group of musicians and DJ's who were building a recording studio. While testing donated equipment, we found a box full of about 50 cassette tapes. The tapes were field recordings, programs recorded from the radio, and copyrighted material. While sorting, we found a tape from an answering machine and listened. We became fascinated with this tape. Who was John? What was he doing? Was he abducted or did he elope? This tape was one of the few things we kept from that box.

The result is Hey John, an auditory way to process the questions in our minds about what happened to John.

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