As I sit in my own home...
Jan 16, 2022, 05:54 PM
""As I sit in my own home..." reworks a recording of King George V's Christmas message from December 1934. It takes its inspiration from the aspects of the king's voice - everything from diction and use of voice to actual recording techniques - and in the surface noise and crackle of the recording medium itself (the recording sounds like a 78, but is most likely an acetate used for broadcast). Thus the methodology pursued was premised on the granular decomposition of the voice, and the use of surface noise as a rhythmic element.
Nevertheless, the key part of the speech was the sentence "As I sit in my own home, I am thinking of the plenty multitudes all listening to my voice". It is representative of a moment in history when recorded sound, and sound transmission, was indeed so new that the monarch feels it relevant to point this out in his address to the nation. It is also reminiscent of Alvin Lucier's contemporary music classic "I Am Sitting in a Room". The sentence recurs throughout the piece, and also provides it its title."
Nevertheless, the key part of the speech was the sentence "As I sit in my own home, I am thinking of the plenty multitudes all listening to my voice". It is representative of a moment in history when recorded sound, and sound transmission, was indeed so new that the monarch feels it relevant to point this out in his address to the nation. It is also reminiscent of Alvin Lucier's contemporary music classic "I Am Sitting in a Room". The sentence recurs throughout the piece, and also provides it its title."
Composition by Acoustic Mirror.
Part of the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio - find out more and see the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/shortwave