Field Dept. (estlin usher & Andy Klingensmith)
2021, Modern Concern

https://moco.bandcamp.com/album/room-assignment-2

Breath-terror and awareness.

A meditation on technologies of sound production from primal-natural, to object, to instrument. Airflow as a means to guide symbolic and melodic gestures, with concentrated attention to the body’s function to accomplish what should be the simplest of tasks; to breathe.

“It is a kind of stifling, that starts from below, that also starts from both sides at once. It is an encirclement of the respiratory barrel. And now something is very wrong. It is worse than strangling; an anatomical nightmare, a metaphysical anguish, a revolt…”

Room Assignment #2 is an exercise addressing the acute emotional contagions brought about by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Deep breathing is used as a therapeutic technique and in practice, we begin to recognize the potential breath has as a catalyst for change in our physical and emotional response. As we explore its effect on our bodies, our environment, and our mental state, its transformative nature is considered as a compositional device. By abstracting breath through the lips, simple wind instruments, and makeshift whistles, an attempt is made by two performers to reach a sympathetic emotional resonance using rhythm, signals, and sounds guided by breathing.

Room Assignment #2 was recorded live on July 3 and 10, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois by two fully vaccinated artists positioned in front of two stereo microphones facing opposite sides of a ventilated room. They produced all sounds with their bodies, manipulating steel tubes, flute keys, harmonica, melodica, chairs, and whistles. The sounds of a busy restaurant patio and passing subway train can be heard around the performance. For patient listening.