listen with mother~

Exhibited as part of the "Sonic Spatiology vol. 2" exhibition in the ZKM Pavilion of the ZKM, Karlsruhe in February 2024, curated by Gerriet K. Sharma and Dr. Paul Modler.

Title of Work
listen with mother~

Year
2024

Length
Quite long.

Media
Generative audiobook composition for computer and headphones

Description
// Are you sitting comfortably? y/n
// Then I shall begin.

listen with mother~ is an audiobook rendition of Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola in which the novel is narrated by a programme whose synthetic voice generates an evolving musical piece.

It is a reinterpretation of the eponymous twentieth-century BBC radio programme, in which a presenter would read stories to children in an intimate tone, as though they were talking to each child alone.

In this re-imagining, the story is narrated by a programme whose synthetic voice generates an evolving musical piece. Word length and punctuation determine the metre, while other variables based on the text influence the pitch, timbre and texture of the synthesis.

listen with mother~ explores the possibilities of using cues and information from other forms of media as a departure point for a musical composition. In doing so it invites the listener to engage with the both the composition and the novel, allowing their attention to drift between the composition and text.