Christina Kubisch, Annea Lockwood ‎– The secret life of the inaudible

christina-kubisch-annea-lockwood-%e2%80%8e-the-secret-life-of-the-inaudible

2CD – Gruenrekorder

Christina Kubisch and Annea Lockwood met each other in a different age. It was around 1975 and the New York experimental music scene wasn’t as internationally recognized, but both artists already had solid backgrounds. Christina Kubisch had attended the Milan Conservatory and was developing some fundamental multimedia research with the Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi. Annea Lockwood was a teacher at the Hunter College in Manhattan and was already working with field recordings, focusing especially on the environment, often in partnership with different choreographers, sound poets and visual artists. Their first partnership dated to 1979, a festival in Como, Italy. Together they performed “World Rhythms”, a piece by Annea Lockwood. Since that time, the two artists have not many opportunities to meet again, so when this happened at the beginning of 2017 in Berlin, the idea to work together again was a natural consequence; the result of a mutual respect and understanding. The core point was attention to the inaudible, a powerful fascination for both the experimenters, the key that influences our lives and our perception of the world. Kubisch and Lockwood took a determined and unusual decision: they exchanged their own audio files and let each other mutually choose and mix the audio sources individually developed into a new composition. The two suites originating from this exchange definitely seem different, but at the same time also similar. Lockwood sent her colleague some recordings including VLF chorus waves, solar oscillations, gas vents and earthquakes. Kubisch had to modulate these ultrasonic and infrasonic events to make them audible. The other sources followed a different direction, because they were analog: audio captures taken live and from different cities, following a scheme that may seem more traditional, but at the same time also effective enough and respectful of the qualities of the weaves. However, apparently nothing can be taken for granted. The two composers always keep the listener’s attention high, but at the same time set the imagination free. The psychoacoustics they play are slightly doctrinaire, however they are conceptual and heart breaking.

 

Gruenrekorder | The secret life of the inaudible | Christina Kubisch & Annea Lockwood | CD1

 

Gruenrekorder | The secret life of the inaudible | Christina Kubisch & Annea Lockwood | CD2