Attempts at Stillness

Happy humans in troubled times. A privilege, and a personal recurring source of angst and guilt, as most of my program notes betray. Moreover, I am saturated, like most, by the incessant stream of stimuli: ads, social media, (curated) news of the unfair world, fascinating discoveries, and whatever else. It all resonates a little too much with the natural thunderstorm in my hyperactive head.

To cope, I attempt mindfulness. Actually, it is more to really enjoy my privileged life as is: an incredibly difficult task. I therefore share here a sonic musing on the pleasure of contemplating the complex ebb and flow of a million things that fight for attention, when I manage to lower the grip of its frenzy on my angst, guilt and powerlessness, and just observe it with an open curiosity.

This is a piece composed for the Czech radio, making explicit, transparent use of the three acousmatic modes of listening (semantic, causal and reduced) yet adding more conventional musical ones to the equation (melodic, harmonic, orchestral, rhythmic).