FOXY DIGITALIS > > > "10 out of 10"
TEXTURA online > > > "...a fabulous collection of explorative soundscaping..."
BRAINWASHED online > > > "...sets the bar intimidatingly high... I wish I lived in Providence."
NORMAN Records > > > "...just gorgeous..."

In 2007, Erik Carlson of AREA C came up with the alt-Space idea as a way to explore interactions between sound and space in environments that are not normally viewed or used as venues for art. Its intent is to serve as a medium through which AREA C and other like-minded musicians could create new music that is inspired by and engages with unique architectural locations. An obvious first choice was the Cormack Planetarium, hidden within the slightly threadbare, Victorian-era Museum of Natural History in Roger Williams Park, Providence, RI. These live performances – collaborations between AREA C and Black Forest/Black Sea, Mudboy and Eyes Like Saucers – became the basis of the Planetarium Project.

For each performance, AREA C and the collaborating artist composed a new, largely improvisational piece based on a visual score created by Carlson that corresponded to the planetarium display that he had designed with the planetarium staff, utilizing the planetarium’s Zeiss projector and some of their more antique equipment. Recorded in almost total darkness, these live performances mix in a palette of live instrumentation with samples from of a range of cosmic phenomena, including whistlers, bow shock, and kilometric radiation: all forms of radio emission produced by the magnetic fields of planets and other cosmic bodies. The Planetarium Project weaves these sounds into a fabric that plays between three sets of extremes: analog+digital, electric+acoustic, high tech + low fi.

The dome of the planetarium is filled with millions of tiny perforations. When projected light hits this surface, it produces a blurred effect, causing a slight optical shimmer: a low-fi way of mimicking the shimmer of distance we feel when viewing the real night sky. The music composed for the Planetarium Project was inspired by the way this domed room warps the sounds and images created here, while also wrapping the audience and performers within them.

The project was released in 2009 by Sedimental. I've only included the two pieces here for my bandcamp subscribers that feature Black Forest/Black Sea. The other tracks in the project feature Area C in collaboration with Mudboy and Eyes Like Saucers. Copies of the full 2xCD release in beautiful letter-pressed sleeves can still purchased from Area C - bit.ly/3ypcvv2

Images of the package design here - bit.ly/3yqEryn

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