edgewater (2017)

audio/visual media (stereo)



edgewater is the result of a trip to the beach at the crack of dawn to record the surf, uninterrupted by the sound of people or airplanes. When you experience the ocean while recording it, in sound and image, you really notice the disparities in scale: you can see the vast ocean for miles and also the tiny creatures burrowing in the sand nearby; you can hear the roar of waves crashing far away and also the delicate rippling of currents running around your feet. Placing the camera and microphone a few inches above the incoming tide exaggerates these differences in scale. The static, close-up visual framing draws attention to the relative distances of the surf sounds.

Along with ideas of scale, the piece engages notions of the real and the imaginary. On a lazy beach, the imaginary can take over in your daydreams. In edgewater, passages of natural soundscape intermingle with imaginary visions of the sand, water, and sound. The continuum between ocean noise and razor-sharp pitch serves as an expressive resource in the imaginary passages. All audio comes from recordings of the surf, though the filtering and spectral processing techniques do not always reveal the source of the sound.


Performances:

  • Visible Bits, Audible Bytes, Phoenix Cinema, Leicester, England, 4/29/23
  • Performing Media Festival, South Bend Museum of Art and Indiana University South Bend, South Bend, Indiana (exhibition 1/14/23-3/19/23)
  • Seoul International Computer Music Festival, Platform-L Contemporary Art Center, Seoul, South Korea, 10/16/22
  • College Music Society / Association for Technology in Music Instruction, Long Beach, California, 9/23/22
  • International Computer Music Conference, University of Limerick, Ireland, 7/6/22 (virtual)
  • Chicago Composers’ Consortium, Roosevelt University, Chicago, 2/21/20
  • Bristol University Loudspeaker Orchestra, Bristol, England, 11/1/19
  • Diffrazioni Festival, Le Murate, Progetti Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy, 3/28/19
  • SEAMUS National Conference, Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee, 3/23/19
  • Electroacoustic Barn Dance, Jacksonville University, 11/10/18
  • New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Abrons Arts Center, New York City, 7/19/18
  • CECM Concert, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, 12/3/17