Music Maker, Sound Artist, Cultural Worker
Dedicated member of music groups Pallmer (Fredericton) and Trajectories (Montréal)
ARTIST STATEMENT
As a composer and sound artist specializing in electroacoustic/soundscape composition, I explore the intricate relationships between nature and technology through computer-based music. My creative journey delves into the intersections of human activity and its impacts on the rest of nature, employing field recordings to design immersive sonic narratives. Central to my artistic practice is a commitment to sustainable art-making that avoids environmental extraction. Collaboration across diverse disciplines is vital to my creative process, inspiring new directions that blur the lines of traditional music making. Engaging with varied artistic as well as interdisciplinary domains promotes synergies and new approaches to art-making that can result in deeper impact. As a sound artist, I strive to circumvent creative boundaries, using intricately constructed soundscapes to provoke contemplation on our interconnectedness with those that exist in the world, both human and non-human.
Charles Harding is a sound maker residing in Fredericton, NB. He has over a decade of experience in music composition and facilitation, focusing on computer-based music creation and field recording documentation processes. Harding completed formal training in electroacoustic composition at Concordia University in 2022, leading to his debut music release, "Rain Beast" (June 2022, Patient Records), featuring soundscapes from New Brunswick and Montréal, highlighting human-nature relationships. On January 26, 2024, he released a collection of etudes called “Hellsö” (via Patient Records) based on his time at a residency on the island of Kökar, Åland, Finland in October 2023. In June of 2024, Harding shared a debut performance of this new music at a one-shot festival called Varieté Vågspel, located in the countryside of southern Sweden, on a small island called Senoren. Throughout July 2024 to February 2025, he was the official artist in residence at Fredericton’s Charlotte Street Arts Centre, analyzing and documenting the 140 year old building’s unique soundscape.
Harding is also a member of the electroacoustic composers collective, Trajectories, which released "Blood & Breath" in February 2023. Additionally, he performed a live soundscape set with Trajectories at Nuit blanche à Montréal, which became the "Prisma" live EP/video. In fall 2023, Harding and fellow Trajectories collaborators Malte Leander and Connor Cook, participated in the production of 4 live performance videos in various locations around the island of Kökar, Finland, as well as a new electroacoustic/soundscape album called “Quiet on Kökar”, released February 9, 2024. On February 15, 2024, Trajectories was invited to be a part of the Codes d’accés 2024-25 programming in Montréal, drawing over 100 people to view an audiovisual performance of their recent work. In mid-April 2024, the collective also presented their new works in Fredericton, New Brunswick, part of Connexion ARC’s 40th Anniversary Programming at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre. In May 2024, Harding, alongside members of Trajectories, participated in a creative residency at Sound Art Lab in Struer, Denmark, as well as a Scandinavian audiovisual performance tour in June including Hypnos Theatre in Malmö, Sweden among others.
In the realm of popular music production, Harding is a dedicated member of Fredericton’s chamber pop ensemble Pallmer. Between 2023 and 2024 they toured all sides of Canada and recently made their international debut at the 2024 Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany. They also performed on CBC’s East Coast Music Hour in November 2024 in collaboration with singer-songwriter Taryn Kawaja.
Harding has a robust production background, contributing to hundreds of events across eastern Canada. Notably, he coordinated SIGHT+SOUND 2022, a digital arts festival hosted by Montréal artist-run-centre Eastern Bloc, which was nominated for the Conseil des arts de Montréal’s 37th Grand Prix award. He is also a regular contributor to Fredericton’s Shivering Songs Festival, which occurs every year in January.