Décalage (2008) 6’32 (Fixed media - 8 channels)

Décalage attempts to explore sonic interactions between organic and synthetically produced ‘real world’ materials. The piece is based around recordings of wood and metal in various states of interaction and motion. Unprocessed elements of the original recordings are evident in the arrangement, and are also used as the basis on which the rest of the sounds in the work are derived.

At the heart of the piece lies a transformation, or shift. The organic gives way to the synthetic. The synthetic becomes acousmatic, and the natural slowly becomes unnatural as all reference to the original sound sources, and environmental cues, are stripped away. Familiar, brittle, erratic sounds, which are present at the beginning of the piece, mutate and give way to a darker, blurred and more vague audio world as the shift towards the synthetic takes place. The mutation from the ‘real’ to the acousmatic is further emphasised as the sounds develop from typical and ordinary to a more sinister, oppressive sound world.