The Sonic Arts Network/Curated by David Moss - Blood, Muscle & Air

blood, muscle & airVocal sounds are produced everyday by people all around the globe, yet few show as much control and ingenuity with their vocal chords as the artists heard in the most recent collection from the Sonic Arts Network , 'Blood, Muscle and Air'. It is an education in vocal sound production and the possibilities hidden inside each of us. The fourteen artists, all experienced performers from around the world, submitted fourteen very different tracks in response to a request from David Moss: “... the power and intimacy of the human voice... a piece that reflect how you love singing at the moment”. Each one uses an extensive array of sound, giving testament to the individuality of the human voice and personal creativity. Slotted between the pieces are short ten second buffer tracks which aid in a smooth transition from whisper to squeal to chatter to breath. Melissa Madden Gray opens by creating an acoustically graphic image of a 'Heart Murmur' with a polyphony of whispers, tunes and vocal rhythms. In 'I've Heard That One' Chris Mann rambles through a monologue of a piece timed as one-side of a conversation. The use of pitch, silence and breath is an interesting observation of speech patterns. Fatima Miranda takes us through the shadows of everything that has ever existed to a mysteriously beautiful landscape in 'Palimpsiesta'. In 'Dong Song Thanh Trong Khong Gian (Overtones in Space)', Tran Quang Hai sings over a recording of himself to produce multi-leveled throat singing in an interesting mix of traditional and modern effects. A number of tracks are wandering passages of noise with unfamiliar sounds akin to insects being suffocated in a balloon or sparrows slowly being frozen. Improvisation is a wonderful way to be musically expressive but a form, even a loose one, heightens the listening experience. Tracks with more familiar sounds are reminiscent of The White Album, Tom Waits and the Terminator melting to death in film II. Some tracks have great concepts, like 'Breathing Out' by Phil Minton who's strained squeals form a unique expression of an everyday act, one which we often take for granted; and 'Idling on Air' by Jaap Blonk who sounds a little like a struggling Vesper until a glance at the accompanying notes makes you listen, really listen.
So now I feel a little lazy with my everyday speech. Blood, Muscle & Air is all we need to speak, sing and make weird and wonderful sounds using only our vocal chords as a musical instrument. This collection is a worthy statement of the possibilities within us.

:: The Sonic Arts Network-Curated by David Moss/Blood, Muscle & Air - Sonic Arts Network