Above photo by Carmen Veronica
New solo album AVAILABLE NOW from Full Spectrum Records!
Talk More with Aaron Oppenheim (laptop), Shanna Sordahl (cello/electronics), Andrew Weathers (guitar/electronics). Recorded January 14, 2014.
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Composed in collaboration with choreographer Yukie Fujimoto for her piece "#25". Premiered at Mills College November 21, 2013.
Excerpts from an improvised cello and electronics performance for KZSU's Day of Noise 2013.
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Live performance at Mills College Signal Flow Festival, May 2013. Shanna Sordahl - composer, electronics
Robert Lopez - bass drum, cymbal
Nava Dunkelman - floor tom, chimes
As Turning In Your Sleep uses changes in timbre and shifting rhythmic accents to move away from, and explore, the 'typical' percussion sound that begins the piece. The percussionists move from a syncopated pattern on the bass drum and floor tom to a broader timbral spectrum through extended techniques and gradual inclusion of cymbals and chimes. Within improvised sections developed through a collaborative rehearsal process they delve into and deconstruct the meter while expanding the sound palate of each section. The electronics help bring awareness to various qualities of color and texture within the percussion sounds that one may not initially notice, while both stressing and subverting the rhythmic accents. This is accomplished using bandpass filters and controlled feedback, and processing live sampled sound. Throughout the piece the timbral focus slowly shifts from one extreme to another, from the low, booming sound of the drums to the high ringing of the chimes and cymbal.
Robert Lopez - bass drum, cymbal
Nava Dunkelman - floor tom, chimes
As Turning In Your Sleep uses changes in timbre and shifting rhythmic accents to move away from, and explore, the 'typical' percussion sound that begins the piece. The percussionists move from a syncopated pattern on the bass drum and floor tom to a broader timbral spectrum through extended techniques and gradual inclusion of cymbals and chimes. Within improvised sections developed through a collaborative rehearsal process they delve into and deconstruct the meter while expanding the sound palate of each section. The electronics help bring awareness to various qualities of color and texture within the percussion sounds that one may not initially notice, while both stressing and subverting the rhythmic accents. This is accomplished using bandpass filters and controlled feedback, and processing live sampled sound. Throughout the piece the timbral focus slowly shifts from one extreme to another, from the low, booming sound of the drums to the high ringing of the chimes and cymbal.
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Dust to Dust from Shanna Sordahl on Vimeo. |
Dust to Dust is an installation that reflects on our relationships and emotional responses to different sonic spaces. Recorded soundscapes play through lightbulbs whereupon they are drastically altered, yet retain key qualities of their original character. Amplifiers power the filaments with audio signals and the sounds are naturally filtered by the lightbulbs. The timing and duration of the sounds are randomized, making their interactions unpredictable, much like independent variables in a natural setting.
The sounds interact in the space to create a new environment consisting of the remnants of the original recordings. Simultaneous with this creation, each of the sounds acquire light as a further form of expression, but at the same time there is a sense of degradation and disorientation from the loss of the rich character of each of the original soundscapes. This installation attempts to balance these conflicting ideas – our associations with different soundscapes, the changes and manipulations that can happen to those, and our multifarious responses to those changes.
The sounds interact in the space to create a new environment consisting of the remnants of the original recordings. Simultaneous with this creation, each of the sounds acquire light as a further form of expression, but at the same time there is a sense of degradation and disorientation from the loss of the rich character of each of the original soundscapes. This installation attempts to balance these conflicting ideas – our associations with different soundscapes, the changes and manipulations that can happen to those, and our multifarious responses to those changes.