Sound of Changes

Available for over a year

Composer Iain Chambers creates a radiophonic sequence from the huge recording archive of the pan-EU Sounds of Changes project, a collaboration between 6 major European museums to document the huge change within our acoustic landscape. In this new work, Iain sets up dialogues between the sounds of obsolete industrial technology employed in manufacturing, communications, transport and agriculture, along with domestic sounds from bygone eras. Iain has worked with this sound archive for a number of years. His hoerspiel for Westdeutscher Rundfunk, 'The Eccentric Press', was a finalist in the 2016 Prix Palma Ars Acustica. Here, the recordings are presented unmodified, in a through-composed, meditative sequence. We hear weaving looms giving way to typewriters; ticket-printing machines and foundries; obsolete computers and stationary steam engines. These previously-familiar, now long-forgotten sounds transport us back in time, evoking memories, and sometimes demanding consideration as quasi-musical material. When our era is described to our ancestors, the pace of change will surely rival the industrial revolution. Sound of Changes documents this rapid change, as witnessed by the huge change in the acoustic landscape. Cast list: Tower clocks Quartz clock ticking Spirit duplicator Manual cardboard cutter machine Paper–cutting scissors Card duplicating machine Wall clock Fire department bell Lynotype line casting machine Typographical printing machine Trip hammer Buttonhole machine Ticket printing machine Tumble-wash Tug boat Weaving machine Braiding machine Shuttle loom Threshing with hand flails Sawmill crankwheel Angel chimes Automatic telephones Alarm clock Pencil sharpener Camera shutter release Portable typewriters Mechanical calculator Cash register Horizontal gang saw Wire weaving loom Stationary engine Horizontal milling machine Loom Kessel sharpening machine Floating mill, water wheel Link bending machine Pursemaker