First conceived in 2023 at Ecopoetics Workshop in Sottochiesa, Italy, In the Air is a generative instrument based on recordings of local bird calls. 

 

Using Max/MSP, a visual programming software for musicians and multimedia artists, I began by analyzing the incoming “notes” of a selected birdsong, asking the program to identify the pitch of the bird’s calls and begin playing different midi instruments in the key and rhythm of the birdsong.

 

There is a way in which it at first feels like the flattery of imitation, but as the song progresses, the instruments to change from imitations of nature - “birdsong,” “rain,” and “seashore” - to more man-made and violent sounds – “gunshot,” “telephone ring,” “helicopter.”

 

The entire composition evolves into one of extraction instead of harmony – taking a bird’s call, analyzing its notes, and changing it into the sound pollution of human society. This also becomes illustrated in the included videos of the birds. As the instruments change from natural imitation to violent extraction, sound events in the piece begin to affect the video – disrupting, warping, and effacing the simple images of the birds.