Andrew Bird - Echolocations: Canyon (2015)

Andrew Bird & Ian Schneller’s Sonic Arboretum comes to the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston for a 3 month exhibition spanning February 4 – May 10 2015. The installation of 36 speakers will feature a brand new ambient composition by Andrew called Echolocations: Canyon.

Recorded in the Coyote Gulch canyons of Utah, Echolocations: Canyon is first in a series of short films and recordings by Andrew that will document site specific compositions in exceptional national and urban environments. Bird says:

Ever since I was a child I would test different spaces with my voice or whistle or violin. Whatever sound you make it’s like a giant limb that can reach beyond your fingers and grope the corners of the room. Now when I’m on tour playing a different theater every night we “tune” the room hunting down the bass traps and the standing waves to give the listener the most even and wide spectrum sound. There are certain frequencies that resonate while others are lifeless. Sometimes the room refuses to yield and I have to consider playing different songs that will work in that room. It’s a challenge but I enjoy the moments when I must yield to the environment. So I thought it would be interesting to take all this outside where the reflections off the landscape are triggering countless inferences and steering the conversation.