Komyogi-temple-2013-EPalmer by Eliot Palmer

A return to Komyogi temple, Kamiyacho (Tokyo). Unprocessed edit of improvisation (cleaned up version of earlier upload).

The sound making was a study of the resonance and rattles in the wooden / paper windows in the temple. I sought to shape sound by focusing on tuning the frequencies of three oscillators, filter frequency and resonance, and intermodulation.

The application was about getting more transient vibrations that were more musical but also more ambiguous in origin - more akin to the rattles that occur with the low frequencies of passing traffic. The focus on low pass filter resonance helped me to draw out this idea, as it somewhat emulates/mimics the physical resonance that occurs acoustically.

A lot of what is heard is the harmonics of some lower tones, played through the paper/wood with vibration speakers. The tuning was based very much on what the paper was sympathetic to and what more pure tones would complement and draw out transient noises from the wood and paper. This approach in turn will support a paper installation work underway with visual artist Larissa Linnell.

I was responding to this boundary of the temple space and how the larger temple complex, and the building itself, were contained and somewhat protected from the activity of Tokyo. You can hear birds in the graveyard and there was a wonderful stillness late at night during this recording.

This is a quick edit of a 20 minute improvised recording made in March 2013 as part of an artist in residence with 3331 Gallery Chiyoda. Ideally I'd love to come back for a performance installing resonators across the whole site.