Under LA

LOS2 and TORR2 were composed for UnderLA, a project by Refik Anadol and Peggy Weil, as a part of the 2016 Current:LA Public Art Biennial commissioned by the City of Los Angeles.

UnderLA presented site specific video projections on the historic 1st Street Bridge in downtown LA and the origin of the LA River in Canoga Park. The videos are a visual descent underground using photographs of the layers of porous rock and water from the surface to 1,400 feet below ground. The soil samples were taken from LOS-2, a monitoring well located just south of downtown LA and TORR-2, a monitoring well located in Torrance.

Over the course of the composition, the harmonic notes descend from high to low in pitch while the granular synthesis ascends from low to high in pitch. Effectively, the note patterns and harmonies gradually lower while the white noise starts low and grumbly and then ends high. These equal but opposite processes are meant to be a structural gesture to descending underground and all the different variables that may increase or ascend proportionally, such as pressure, darkness, density of different substances, gravitational pull, etc. (Available to stream or purchase on Bandcamp.)