I have long been interested in sleep, the unconscious
and the subconscious when it comes to audio, listening and music. With
the birth of my first daughter I became particularly interested in
sleep and how to get more of it (I’m sure most parents go through
this). I
composed several pieces of simple drone music as an aid to our family
to try to help us relax and sleep. I have no idea if it really
worked. Jimmy’s piece and write up led me back to some
of these thoughts about sleep and particularly what role audio plays
during sleep, getting us to sleep, meditation, relaxation, dreaming,
etc.
Jimmy makes some comments in his write up about sounds detached
from the listener. While Jimmy sleeps he images the sounds
being heard by the objects that make them. This is a beautiful
idea in and of itself but what strikes me as interesting is that
Jimmy still includes himself in his sonic portrait; a body, lying
still and unconscious, perhaps not listening to these sounds but
somehow still connected to them.
What role does audio play in aiding
sleep? What role does
audio play while we are asleep? These are both interesting questions
to me and are central to my relay piece and inspired by Jimmy’s
piece and thoughts.
I’ve sampled small portions of Jimmy’s piece and reconstructed
them into very simple layered patterns that loop and oscillate. For
me they are the sounds of the process of sleep itself. They are the
sounds of a sort of sleep machine, an audio bridge between the conscious
and unconscious.
Scott Morgan (Loscil) / September 2008
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