Sam Dunscombe + Radio van Horen Zeggen.
Some words on our concert next week + new music.
Hi all,
Next week, on Tuesday March 18th, we’ll host Sam Dunscombe in Salon de IJzerstaven. Back in February, during a site-visit with Ivan (the founder of Kantarion Sound, who’ll supply the speakers for the concert), the juxtaposition between Sam Dunscombe’s detailed nature recordings and the dense machinery in metal workplace struck a special chord. We’re very excited to listen together with you.
We’d like to use this newsletter to highlight Sam Dunscombe’s broader artistry + share some of her own words for you as well. At the bottom of this newsletter, you’ll find our latest radio show. Could work out nicely to hit ‘play’ before further reading :).
Sam (Samantha) Dunscombe is an audio engineer, sound artist, performer, and composer who operates in a wide (!) variety of areas. From studio engineering to field recordings; from spectralism and just intonation to free improvisation and sound installations.
Sam has presented work for the Acousmonium at INA GRM and Archipel Geneva; performed Eliane Radigue’s music at the Berlin Philharmonie with Klangforum Wien and ONCEIM + has a Doctoral degree of Musical Arts in performance from UC San Diego. There, she currently works as a researcher charged with running the music department’s recording and archival facilities. Take a plunge and dive deep through her work, starting here.
Sam wrote us the following on what we’ll hear on the next week:
“Two Forests / Oceanic is a long-form work developed through research into the use of music in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy sessions. Extensive reading, together with membership in the Berlin-based MIND Foundation, brought me in contact with a number of unique perspectives on this niche genre: from psychotherapists to self-proclaimed shamans; paramedics to religious leaders; ravers to lawyers; painters to software engineers, and others. This led me to the conclusion that this field does not currently take full advantage of all that experimental practice has taught us about music’s power to touch and heal. Two Forests / Oceanic seeks to change this with an understanding of sonic materiality, of tuning and temperament, of sound’s role in both defining and articulating space.”
“The basis of this work is the analysis and resynthesis of tuning patterns found in the natural world. In Two Forests, the frequencies of animal calls within two field recordings (a sequoia grove in Northern California; a rainforest outside Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon) are analysed and used to derive just intonated pitch sets. Synthetic sounds blend with natural ones, and specific interval relationships are emphasised in order to create a heightened sense of spatial friction as tones interact. In Oceanic, recordings of waves crashing on beaches in California, Germany, and Australia are juxtaposed, and the rhythmic frequency (periodicity) of each is used to guide the evolution of a set of synthesized tones. Together, these two works aim to create a listening experience that is open, presenting sonic environments through which the mind and ear may wander and refocus in a free and undirected manner.”
van Horen Zeggen
met Sam Dunscombe
op dinsdag
18.03.25
20:00
in Salon de IJzerstaven,
Bickersgracht 10, Amsterdam
website
tickets
We happily share the latest instalment of our CAMP Radio show, Radio van Horen Zeggen. Have a listen to the mix below, through Mixcloud or download an uncompressed file of the show here. Our next instalment will be broadcasted this Sunday, March 16th, at 11:00 on CAMP Radio. For now: enjoy.
Tracklist:
See you next week!
Warmly,
van Horen Zeggen