Canto Metrics

Canto Metrics is structured duo improvisation and computer music work utilising a variety of archival recorded material from various historic media archives. The title is derived from the ethnomusicological practice of the sound recordist Alan Lomax who developed a vast library documenting traditional folk music from around the world. Most of the work's recordings are coloured by their original wax cylinder format which imbues the material with distinct and complex textural and timbral characteristics. These elements serve as the basis for a variety of signal processing and sampling techniques to transform the historic qualities of the sound sources into a distinctly contemporary idiom.