A Brief Detour

Program Note: This piece was constructed partially as a reaction to my first impressions of acousmatic works by Natasha Barrett and others, but also as a reaction to an exploration of Herbie Handcock’s “Maiden Voyage” conducted during Professor Brian Alegant’s entry music theory course. Hancock's use of pentatonic scales and chromaticism to create a buoyant sense of motion reminded me of some of the harmonic aesthetics of vaporwave and old video game music. Barett’s meticulous construction of sound objects in space seemed like the ultimate demonstration of technique that I sought to create with my sound designs. Loosely inspired by some notion I had of going on an abstract journey through the internet, I sought to use the ideas I had heard in the works of Barett and Handcock to create a space where I could explore and attempt to refine an aesthetic new to my work.