Sonic Collaborations
Katie Kroko and Andrew Israelsen
Audio Postcards from Alaska
Improvisation, Experimental Music, Field Recordings
May 23, 2020
Composed, Compiled, Recorded, and Improvised by Kate Kroko and Andrew Israelsen.
Listen and Watch @ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkttGTuNBFcHYm9-P1Woz3TOyoUKyKzos
Sending the natural artistic beauty of Alaska to you!
Audio Postcards from Alaska is part of New Music Gathering 2020! Find the video on their Gallery website!
Audio Postcards from Alaska is a collection of place-based improvisations and field recordings from the Last Frontier. Since we can’t bring our Alaskan chamber music to the stage this summer, we have decided to bring our musical adventures and a window into our creative process to you.
I. The Uncertainty of Tiny Sounds
Improvisation for boreal plant array. Something fascinating happens when you amplify sounds that are nearly imperceptible to the human ear. Discover a sonic world in miniature.
Lichen, moss, horsetail, spruce boughs, alder cones, and birch bark combine to make the tiny sounds orchestra. All materials were foraged responsibly.
II. The Resonance of Ice
One of our favorite winter pastimes is playing with the sonic palette of ice. What sounds happen when you drum, tap, rub, strike, crack, and shatter ice?
III. Syrinx
One day hiking at the South Fork of Eagle River, we stopped to do some deep listening. We were captivated by a conversational birdsong resonating off every mountainside of the river valley. Sounds reminiscent of an oboe multiphonic permeate the language of these river valley birds. A lone hunter’s gunshot punctuates the soundscape.
IV. Bridge Boot Dance
Rubber boots are a way of life up here. Take them fishing or when hiking through the muskeg. Come across a rickety wooden bridge. Breathe life into it with the rhythm of your feet. Repeat. Let the rubber soles speak.
V. Timbral Ice-Scapes
Frozen lake. Shards of ice. Frozen mallets, frozen drum. Strike ice with ice. Fragments skate across the lake with a whistle.
VI. The Whale Boat
We’ve been sent by the Juneau Symphony to perform a fundraising concert. With a string quartet. On a whale watching boat. Wealthy patrons ooh and ahh as the whales breach. The string quartet is overpowered by the oppressive hum of the boat’s ancient diesel motors.
VII. Rainy Hilltop with Bows and Bells
Rain pours, but it’s a good day to hike out for that perfect field recording. With bell chimes and violin bows in hand, we hike to the top of a hill at Eagle Beach. In a durational performance, we circle the hilltop playing tones in response to the natural environment.