By:

• Anton Killin

Duration:

06' 00"

Samples

	Recording (943k)	0'00'' - 0'40''	© Anton Killin
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Availability

• This work has 2 recordings

Programme Note

The term “a priori” in philosophy refers to that which is already known or presupposed before any kind of inquiry has taken place.

This piece organises vocal sounds into a specific trajectory and juxtaposes these sounds with electronically manipulated material and recordings of nature and machinery. I recorded speakers of various languages – Polish (Andrzej Nowicki), Japanese (Andy Tate), Russian (Liz Platova), French (Clare Tattersall), Luo (Beryl Matete), English (myself), Dutch and German (Duncan Nairn). These languages were ‘altered’ during the recording process to accommodate the trajectory (from vowel sounds to whole words to consonant sounds to percussive voice sounds to breath sounds) and thus, while the grammar structures of each language still inform the ‘words’ of its speaker, the original meaning of word-combinations is tainted and often lost.

Much of the electronic sounds were created from these voice recordings. Moreover, a lot of only subtle electronic embellishment was employed at times – an aesthetic decision that ‘holds back’ on many opportunities to modify sounds and thus foregrounds the inverted linguistic function of the spoken languages into a purely aural sensation by presenting the recordings as they are, often without electronic manipulation.

Performance History

	18 Oct 2008	Realised at the Lilburn Electronic Music Studios at New Zealand School of Music in Wellington
	12 Dec 2008	Realised at Adam Concert Room, University of Victoria in Wellington
	03 Sep 2009	Realised at the concert of SMP Ensemble at TheNewDowse in Lower Hutt
	14 Oct 2009	Realised at Adam Concert Room, Victoria University in Wellington
	10 Mar 2010	Realised at St Andrews on the Terrace as part of an SMP Ensemble performance