“This piece features field recordings of three forests,” writes Australian born composer, sound artist and engineer Sam Dunscombe over email: “Sequoia National Forest in California (taken in 2012), Kumano Kodo on Japan’s Kii peninsula (2013), and Dandenong Ranges National Park in Victoria, Australia (2019). My goal with this piece was to try to 'make space strange', to create an uncanny sense of growth and transformation within an existing soundscape. I analysed the bird and insect calls in each recording and used this information to generate three just-intoned pitch collections, which I then fed into a variety of digital synthesis methods – from simple sine tones, to my own 'mass plasma synthesis' technique (based on the theoretical writings of Horațiu Rădulescu). I also applied some delay-based processing, together with analogue tape manipulation.”

The sharing of this composition follows Dunscombe's first major solo release via Oren Ambarchi's Black Truffle label. Outside Ludlow/Desert Disco features Dunscombe's audio experiments with a piece of quarter inch tape which the artist found tangled around a cactus when exploring the Mojave desert in California. The release also houses field recordings taken in the ghost town of Ludlow, which include the sounds of freight trains and exploding mines.

Read more about Dunscombe's practice, their goals to improve the soundtracks adopted by psychedelic therapy projects, and Outside Ludlow/Desert Disco in The Wire 449. Wire subscribers can also read the article online via the digital archive.