Sam Dunscombe [full]

Sam Dunscombe is a performer, composer, sound artist, and audio engineer. She works with clarinets, computers, and microphones.For van Horen Zeggen, Dunscombe will present a live performance of the field-recording-sourced Two Forests / Oceanic in the former metal workplace, Salon de IJzerstaven.

Dunscombe’s interest lies in the different ways music lets us experience time and she has been deeply involved in research on the role of music in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Two Forests (2F) starts in a central Californian sequoia grove. It ends in the Amazon rainforest next to the city of Manaus, Brazil. The path between the two is forged out by field recordings of bird song and insect buzzing, treated with slices, delays, and recombination. In doing so, Dunscombe unpeels the field recordings of their linearity and documentary character. The recordings are reframed into “an enchanted web of traces and echoes.” Furthermore, using the pitches from the recordings, Dunscombe constructs a large just intonation pitch set. Tones start to arise. Slowly, but gradually growing “until the forest has been transformed into an unreal space of infinite proportions”. As Dunscombe describes herself: “a sense of place-gone-strange, of space and time simultaneously expanding and contracting across octaves, miles, and minutes”.

On Oceanic (O) one finds themselves on the beach. Or rather, on multiple. A dreamlike and disorienting scene, albeit a comforting one. The recordings of crashing waves are crowned with tones relating to the average rhythm of the shores. Dunscombe paints, washes over and re-paints. And for the attentive listener, the oscillations and swells leave behind a rich and ever-changing gradient.

The people at van Horen Zeggen have kindly offered a limited amount of free tickets for Subbacultcha members. Due to the popular demand, all spots are taken already. If you wish, you can still get a ticket via van Horn Zeggen here.