For many concertgoers, attending a performance is much more than an auditory experience. Accompanying the music, traditional concerts are often complemented with on-stage theatrics, choreography and lighting, among other visual components. But this weekend’s Spatial Audio Concert challenges these conventional elements, instead opting to focus on the power of sonic and spatial art.
This past weekend, Residual Noise, the latest in the Brown Art Institute’s IGNITE Series — an initiative that displays innovative artworks by community members on and off College Hill — hosted a three-day festival that featured several events, a few of which were spatial audio concerts. The Herald attended and reviewed Saturday’s performance featuring seven distinct pieces.
In the Lindemann Performing Arts Center’s Ambisonic Cube, otherwise known as its Main Hall, the Spatial Audio Concert’s astounding ambisonic formation is specifically designed for audio presentation. Utilizing state-of-the-art technology that is unique to Brown’s campus, 43 speakers adorn the walls, ceiling and floor.
In “LAKE BLACK TOWN,” artist JayVe Montgomery created a sound collage using field recordings from four historically Black towns that were drowned to create recreational lakes. Through the deep listening to plant, water and earth sound, Montgomery reflected on silenced histories and resilience of those lost communities. The fusion of story, history and source material alongside the soothing sounds contributed to a powerful listening experience.
Brian House MA’16 PhD’18 presented a piece titled “Everyday Infrasound in an Uncertain World,” which turned 12 hours of low-frequency “infrasound” into an audible track using specialized macrophones. House brings typically imperceptible sounds from nature to the human ear. Some sounds were technologically produced while others relied on real-world audio.
Next up was “Tremologies” by Jake Sokolov-Gonzalez GS and Professor of Comparative Literature and the Humanities Peter Szendy. The piece blended a spoken voice with shifting sound zones, where audio continuously changed around the listener. The spoken voice added a layer of humanity to an otherwise very technical, robotic environment.
“Atrana,” by Chair of Visual Art Ed Osborn, captured the eerie atmosphere of a violent windstorm from inside a fragile motel. Osborn blended raw environmental recordings with electronic processing to build a haunting, immersive soundscape. The noises were startling at times, with some reminiscent of a dog’s loud bark. Compared to the meditative environment the other pieces created, Osborn’s piece focused the concertgoers with its energy.
Femi Shonuga-Fleming used ambisonics and spatial audio to craft abstract sonic worlds rooted in Afrofuturism and ancestral memory. The piece, “Information Retrieval and the Cybernetics of Afrofuturism,” invited deep listening as a ritual, honoring both future possibilities and Indigenous groundings.
In “an index of frictions” by Isaac Barzso GS, sounds constantly evolve, clash and transform into abstract forms that seem to carry echoes of their origins. Barzo’s piece felt incredibly unique, introducing listeners to sounds they may not have heard before or cannot place.
“Untitled” by kite/wing — Robbie Wing and Kite (Oglála Lakȟóta) — is an experimental work focused on how people pay attention to sound, pulling the listener’s focus in and out of different textures. “Untitled” felt like experiencing an in-person Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, more commonly known as ASMR, as the artists moved around the space with numerous bells.
For those unfamiliar with sound as an art form, some pieces felt a bit impenetrable, especially as they stretched on with little narrative or structure. The density and pace sometimes made the work feel more catered to insiders in the field than to general audiences.
That said, for those in the audio field, Residual Noise was incredibly innovative. Even for someone unfamiliar with the technical aspects, it offered a rare chance to feel sound, not just hear it.
