“So Much For” (2021)
(spoken word, field recording, audio art)
as featured in “Queer Out Here” Issue 6
The field recordings that build the foundation of “So Much For” were made on a kayaking daytrip to Brandenburg from Berlin, in September 2020, between two lockdowns. It was a spontaneous trip aimed at creating some sense of adventure and novelty, to help me escape from the city where I braved the first wave of the pandemic, only two months after moving there. And to also help ease my mind about a recent heartbreak and the ongoing process of stagnated healing, due to being talked into a friendship with the person who broke my heart in the first place.
The internal monologue is recorded in one take, then layered in a way to imitate how I usually think, or at least how I think about my own thinking process.
As someone who recently learned that some people think in other ways than “internal monologuing”, I decided to share what my brain sounds like to me while I am seemingly just going about my day.
Hindsight (2020)
(Synthwave/Retrowave Album)
Hindsight was my first solo release in 5 years at the time. It was my first foray into releasing a synthwave/retrowave album, although being very passionate about it for a long time.
Everything is composed, recorded and produced by me, with mix and mastering by Matthew Marteinsson.
“Bells on Chimes” (2021)
(Disquiet Junto Project 0484: A Moveable Heart)
Below is the artist statement I shared in April 2021 during my participation in this project
“I live in Berlin, where the pandemic and especially the last six months of “lockdown” has been a…trying and a somewhat frustrating experience. Mauerpark, which is very close to where I live, is one of those places in Berlin in which you can be convinced that there is no pandemic or a lockdown going on. No one wears a mask, everyone socializes without a care and groups of people come together to play games or drink, whenever it is not raining or snowing.
It is also one of my (by now well-worn) walking paths in the neighborhood, a place where I go almost daily, to take a quick tour around before I walk back home. So, I decided to go there yesterday with a Bluetooth speaker and my trusty Sony M10 for a change, and join this project.
I didn’t time this on purpose, but you can actually hear the church bells joining the recording of the chimes around the 50-second mark, as it was 6pm, when the nearby churches ring their bells daily. In addition to children running around, the tram passing by and the birds, this became another one of my field recordings this year that started with an ambulance in the background. All in all, this 5 minute long file is a good summation of what it’s like to be (me) in Berlin during this pandemic, “life goes on”, with ambulances racing on the background every ten minutes or so…”
“Birds of Gran Canaria” (2022)
(field recording project)
You can listen and support on Bandcamp
Below is the artist statement I shared in February 2022 as part of my efforts to fundraise for Queer people in Ukraine
“Dear all, when the invasion of Ukraine started, I happened to be in the Canary Islands on my first trip since the pandemic started two years ago.
While I always wanted to record more of the wildlife here, I thought I could use this opportunity to help people who need our help the most right now, so, on this album, you will find five recordings of the local birds of Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria.
They are recorded on February 26th, by using a Sony PCM-M10 recorder, in 32-bit float, 96khz quality. All files are approximately 2-3 minutes long, de-noised and gain adjusted in iZotope Rx and ready to use for your commercial/personal projects.
With your purchase, you will receive a single-user, commercial license to use these files however you want, other than re-selling/renting it yourselves.
ALL proceeds from the sales will be donated to www.insight-ukraine.org/en/
A Ukrainian human rights public organization, which brings together lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people and queers
Thank you for your support.”
