Premiere: Sarah Saviet

22’50"

In June 2023 I spent over two months travelling through Thailand, from its northernmost point, along the Malay Peninsula, through the Gulf of Thailand and to the borders of Thailand and Malaysia. Passing through Chiang Mai, Prachuap Kiri Khan, Surat, Koh Samui, Hat Yai, and George Town, I crossed over 1150 miles by train and ferry.

Throughout this journey, I recorded the ambient sounds of travel using contact microphones, capturing the rattling interior of train cabins. These microphones have been utilized to capture the material sound of the train, which is then processed into a soundscape that carry the drones, movements, and rhythms experienced during long-distance travel – the continuous drone that accompanies travel. These recordings, processed and refined, now constitute a fixed-media component that accompanies Sarah's performance.

The violin this texture, it is embedded in this sound of travel to create a conglomerate that slowly shifts and transforms. The violinist performs entirely on the G string, exploring the different qualities of sound that can be produced within this restriction — grainy pitchless bowing, hints of open string, high harmonics, scraping, and other textural sounds.

The arrival point is the Phra Maha Chedi Tripob Trimongkol, an Art Deco inspired stupa made from coiled stainless steel. Within the structure are hundreds of little bells that tinkle in the breeze. The final recordings I have included were taken from within the Chedi — the gentle tinkling of the small bells as they sway in the wind, the sound of distant birds, plus the bleed of some new age music that was being listened to by one of the monks.

This work intersects documentation, a travel journal, field recording, and composition, using this travelling experience to capture and aestheticise the sonic accompaniment that follows us during travel. A studio version of this track is included on my album Thailand’s State Railways, available for purchase on Bandcamp.

Program

Score

Performances:

• 14/05/2024: Sarah Saviet, Conrad Prebys Experimental Theater, University of California, San Diego, California

  

  

  

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