SOUNDWICH XV presented by Conservatoire/Akousma - Live diffusion of soundscape pieces from Rain Beast
I'm feeling so lucky to have been able to perform at Soundwich XV on Nov. 3, 2022, presented by Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec and Akousma! The performance consisted of a 16-channel live diffusion of 2 pieces from my recently released soundscape album Rain Beast!
Thanks so much to my friend Pablo Geeraert for inviting me to be a part of this. I spent many lovely hours rehearsing in the space and have learned a lot!
If you'd like to listen to Rain Beast you can find it here: https://countingondownstairs.bandcamp.com/album/rain-beast
Thanks to Erin Goodine and Emily Kennedy/Mark Kleyn of Pallmer who contributed field recordings to Unsequestered following an O'dell Park sound walk in Fredericton - January 2021. This is one of the pieces that I performed!
The beautiful album artwork was created by Madeline Schmidt
Thanks to Eric Hill at Patient Records for providing this album a place to live!
Rain Beast - Soundscape Album
These recordings were partially collected in the unceded lands of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq, and Passamaquoddy peoples also known as the Wabanaki Confederacy, including what is now known as New Brunswick. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” that did not deal with the surrender of lands and resources but rather recognized Passamaquoddy, Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik titles. Some recordings were also collected in Tiohti:áke/Mooniyang/Montréal of which the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of these lands and waters.
Rain Beast is a collage of field recordings collected in New Brunswick and Montréal between 2018 and 2021. As part of a greater meditation on connecting technological mediums in artistic practice to notions of Anthropocene, this collection reflects upon the dissonances of nature and industry in the south of NB and some of the prominent soundmarks that relate to this theme. This collection is intended to address some of the nostalgias and issues of an audience local to this province, as well as to present an auditory picture to more distanced audiences, whose perspectives can be abstracted, building imaginative scenes from the sounds on display. Inspiration for these pieces comes from the repertoires of artists such as Hildegard Westerkamp, Barry Truax, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Many of the techniques and themes were guided through studying The World Soundscape Project, ideas surrounding deep listening from Pauline Oliveros, and theories of Auditory Scene Analysis from Albert Bregman. My hope for this work is that those who engage with it may find themselves inspired to listen deeply to the world, in many modes, with malleable perspectives, and to remember that we are very much a part of the family of nature.
credits
released June 17, 2022
All pieces composed, mixed, and mastered by Charles Harding.
Thanks to Am DeVito and Sam Risser who contributed field recordings to Hypermnesia following a downtown Montréal sound walk - April 2019.
Thanks to Erin Goodine, Emily Kennedy, and Mark Kleyn who contributed field recordings to Unsequestered following an O'dell Park sound walk in Fredericton - January 2021.
Beautiful artwork was created by Madeline Schmidt
Thanks to Eric Hill at Patient Records