COSMIC TIME
Cosmic Time is a performance work co-created by visual artist Michaela Gleave, composer Amanda Cole and percussionist Louise Devenish. This album was recorded by The Sound Collectors Lab and mixed by Stuart James (The Soundfield Studio). The work takes concepts of time on a cosmological scale as a point of departure. Unfolding over 40 minutes, Cosmic Time explores representations of time ranging from the endless circling of planetary forms, to measures of time on Earth such as human breath and the fluttering heartbeats of desert mice, as well as abstractions of dissolving consciousness. It is presented as a sequence of eight overlapping movements representing forms of cosmic time: Big Bang, Cosmic Soup, Galactic, Stellar, Planetary, Chemical, Biological, and Esoteric.
Performed by four spatialised percussionists, listeners embark on a sonic journey through explorations of time and space informed by historic scientific and musical concepts such as orbital resonance and harmonic sequencing. Centered around gentle metallic percussion instruments, sparkling clusters of bells and triangles, ultra low drums, gongs, cymbals, and a wide range of singing bowls, microtonal tubes and chimes. Together, these instruments pulse, blend and resonate together, to evoke sonic representations of atmospheres, sensations, and rhythms through time and space.
The album is accessible on the following platforms:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Lead artist: Michaela Gleave
Composer: Amanda Cole
Musical Director: Louise Devenish
Performed and recorded by The Sound Collectors Lab: Hamish Upton, Kaylie Melville, Nat Grant, Louise Devenish (percussion)
Recorded by Hadyn Buxton and Anusha Yellapragada at the Digital Hub, Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, Monash University, Melbourne, 28 May 2022
Mixed and mastered by Stuart James, Perth, 12 June and 13-14 July 2022
Liner notes by Louise Devenish and Michaela Gleave
Cover image by Silversalt Photography
Thanks to the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance for the use of percussion instruments, Zela Papageorgiou for rehearsal assistance, and Speak Percussion for loaning aluminium tubes.
The creative development of this project was supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW, a residency at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, the Australian Research Council, and Monash University. Dr Louise Devenish is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE200100555) funded by the Australian Government.
Cosmic Time premiered as a percussion quartet as part of TarraWarra Biennial 2021: Slow Moving Waters, curated by Nina Miall, on 24 April 2021. This performance was presented within an exhibition context at the TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria. The live performance includes sounding costumes, created by Katie B. Plummer. Made of sheet materials including acetate, plastic, mesh and paper, the costumes contribute a quiet rustling sonic layer to the live performance work.