New sounds from Gammelsætra

This summer I am spending some time at the family cabin Gammelsætra in Rendalen composing music for the comissioned work Extinction sounds that I am writing for the festival TronTalks. Just wrapping up a few days work here now. It has been wonderful spending some time here again, and I look forward to coming back before long!

The work examines my memory of the sounds of the forest around the cabin as I remember them from my childhood. A very personal approach to making music indeed… but, at the same time, the work also looks at more universal issues regarding the nature of sound. Every sound, and every perception of sound, vanishes and never comes back as it was in exactly that moment. Such is the nature of sound. But what we hear, be it spoken human words or the call of a bird, change our perception of reality and may trigger all kinds of emotional respones.

In Extincion sounds I try to examine this aspect of sound as a compositional tool in many different ways, in a musical context where my own memories of sound serve as a sonic painting palette. Below is a simple sketch with movable “que-cards” outlining the overall form of the composition. Wonder what it may look like (and sound like!) when I am done!