The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has published a sound mix, Signal Tide — Two Passes, with an accompanying interview with us about Signal Tide, by Joel Ferree of the LACMA Art + Tech Lab, as part of the LACMA@home series.
From the accompanying description:
Signal Tide was created by Lab grant recipients Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty. The artists spent many hours on LACMA’s rooftops looking for LES-1’s signal. They also traveled to New England to research sacred harp singing, a type of choral music that has its origins in folk music traditions of the region of New England, where MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory is located and where LES-1 was built. The culmination of their research was the generative score inspired by this music. Paired with the satellite’s signal, it serenaded visitors for just under a half-hour, which was the amount of time it took LES-1 to make a full pass across the sky above the museum.
Today we are pleased to present Signal Tide — Two Passes, a special audio mix of the score developed for the installation and an archival recording of LES-1’s signal. The mix is structured to emulate the experience of listening to two separate passes of the spacecraft as it would have flown over LACMA. We are also publishing an audio interview with the artists about the genesis and production of the work.
The mix:
Signal Tide — Two Passes is an album-length mix, in two halves. It is adapted from the score that structured Signal Tide when it was presented at LACMA in 2017. The mix uses music from Signal Tide, combined with sound derived from the radio signals of the LES-1 satellite. The music in the mix was recorded specially for the work, and is derived from three sacred harp songs — Fleeting Days, Funeral Anthem, and The Lone Pilgrim — which were used in the work. This music was recorded in collaboration with David Bryant, and features several other musical collaborators — full credits are below. The two halves of the mix emulate the duration of two passes of the LES-1 satellite through the sky above Los Angeles — the original chronometer that structured the work.
The interview:
In the accompanying interview, we talked with Joel Ferree from the LACMA Art+Technology Lab about satellites, singing, sacredness, and space. It’s just over a half an hour long.
Credits:
Signal Tide — Two Passes
Pass 1: 00:00–28:17; Pass 2: 28:27–56:53.
00:00–09:57: Fleeting Days
Derived from the sacred harp song of the same name (ref. 348b in The Sacred Harp). Sung by Esther Wade, Patrick DeDauw, Xarah Dion, and Philippe Doyle-Gosselin. Music played by David Bryant, Drew Barnet, James Hamilton, Sophie Trudeau, and Tom O’Doherty. Recorded and mixed by David Bryant and Drew Barnet at The Pines, Montréal. Accompanying sound [from 08:25] derived from the signal of the LES-1 satellite, recorded by Kata Kovács, Tom O’Doherty, and Kris Slyka, with audio processing by Stephan Esterhuizen.
09:57–18:01: Fleeting Days (Filaments)
Mixed and arranged by Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty. Played by David Bryant, Drew Barnet, James Hamilton, Sophie Trudeau, and Tom O’Doherty. Recorded by David Bryant and Drew Barnet at The Pines, Montréal. Accompanying sound derived from the signal of the LES-1 satellite, recorded by Kata Kovács, Tom O’Doherty, and Kris Slyka, with audio processing by Stephan Esterhuizen.
18:01–27:12: Fleeting Days (Outro)
Derived from the sacred harp song of the same name (ref. 348b in The Sacred Harp). Sung by Esther Wade, Patrick DeDauw, Xarah Dion, and Philippe Doyle-Gosselin. Music played by David Bryant, Drew Barnet, James Hamilton, Sophie Trudeau, and Tom O’Doherty. Recorded by David Bryant and Drew Barnet at The Pines, Montréal. Mixed by Tom O’Doherty. Accompanying sound derived from the signal of the LES-1 satellite, recorded by Kata Kovács, Tom O’Doherty, and Kris Slyka, with audio processing by Stephan Esterhuizen.
27:12–28:17: The Lone Pilgrim
Derived from the sacred harp song of the same name (ref. 341 in The Sacred Harp). Played by Collin Findlay. Recorded and mixed by David Bryant at The Pines, Montréal.
28:27–39:05: Funeral Anthem
Derived from the sacred harp song of the same name (ref. 320 in The Sacred Harp). Sung by Esther Wade, Patrick DeDauw, Xarah Dion, and Philippe Doyle-Gosselin. Music played by David Bryant, Drew Barnet, James Hamilton, and Sophie Trudeau. Recorded by and mixed by David Bryant and Drew Barnet at The Pines, Montréal. Accompanying sound [from 34:44] derived from the signal of the LES-1 satellite, recorded by Kata Kovács, Tom O’Doherty, and Kris Slyka, with audio processing by Stephan Esterhuizen.
39:05–47:05: Funeral Anthem (Filaments)
Mixed and arranged by Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty. Played by David Bryant, Drew Barnet, James Hamilton, and Sophie Trudeau. Recorded by David Bryant and Drew Barnet at The Pines, Montréal. Accompanying sound derived from the signal of the LES-1 satellite, recorded by Kata Kovács, Tom O’Doherty, and Kris Slyka, with audio processing by Stephan Esterhuizen.
47:05–53:34: Funeral Anthem (Outro)
Derived from the sacred harp song of the same name (ref. 320 in The Sacred Harp). Sung by Esther Wade, Patrick DeDauw, Xarah Dion, and Philippe Doyle-Gosselin. Music played by David Bryant, Drew Barnet, James Hamilton, and Sophie Trudeau. Recorded by David Bryant and Drew Barnet at The Pines, Montréal. Mixed by Tom O’Doherty. Accompanying sound derived from the signal of the LES-1 satellite, recorded by Kata Kovács, Tom O’Doherty, and Kris Slyka, with audio processing by Stephan Esterhuizen.
53:34–56:53: The Lone Pilgrim
Derived from the sacred harp song of the same name (ref. 341 in The Sacred Harp). Played and recorded by Tim Eriksen and Zoë Darrow.
Mastered by Diego Ferri.