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Tessellatum: Immersive Soundscapes That Blur Perception
1 Sep
Summary
- Dennehy's music features flowing repetition, evoking a river.
- Sirota and Byrne collaborate on the album Tessellatum.
- The music uses overdubbed strings to create drone-like soundscapes.
Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's "Tessellatum" presents a sweeping sonic landscape performed by Nadia Sirota on viola and Liam Byrne on viola da gamba. Dennehy's signature style of flowing, repetitive patterns creates an immersive experience, distinct from the urban feel of some minimalist composers.
The collaboration with animator Steven Mertens adds a visual layer to the album. Sirota and Byrne's overdubbed strings construct 15 tracks that swirl into a pulsing drone. This evolving mass aims to smudge the edges of one's perception of time, creating a hypnotic auditory space.
The music's husky timbres, reminiscent of human voices, are suspended within a sonic solution. Accompanied by deep-sea imagery in Mertens' animations, the effect is meant to be disorienting yet captivating, allowing listeners to inhabit a fixed space as variations emerge and disappear.
