Annie Socoria is a local Ottawa artist who finds their voice amongst the wires, circuits, and electronic "noise" of a digital landscape. Their latest release recompiles a live performance that took place at Club Saw on August 20, 2021, alongside a screening of Lisa Rovner's Sister with Transistors, and is available on Bandcamp (link here).
Using software and hardware both according to its intended purpose and in new and creative ways, they craft and explore evolving and compelling soundscapes. I hesitate between craft and explore, so I asked them directly about their experience.
UO: "I'm curious about your creative process, would you qualify it as building or crafting something, or exploring something that's already there? Also, where do you typically start? Do you have a feeling you're looking to evoke, a story you want to tell, just a cool sound you want to explore, or something else?"AS: "I
would say it's a combination of all of those things. I generally start
by exploring what sounds a particular item or technique can produce.
Often I try to use things in ways they weren't necessarily designed to
be used. I will combine sounds based on a feeling or mood or theme I
have in mind until I feel I have something complete. Much of my work is
abstract and any literal meaning or theme or story involved is not
often apparent beyond what might be interpreted from the title.
Sometimes a piece is just an exploration of a sound I've discovered."
The release is split into 2 parts. Part 1 starts with arpeggiated sequences swelling in and out of focus, a breathing robot psyching itself up for the strain to come. A pulsing heartbeat feeds the machine. Dark, ominous, grinding tones, industrial, clash against the heartbeat, while meandering, distorted synth with no obvious harmonic centre disorients further. Oppressive beating rhythms and plucked, delayed alarms layer over a glissando sine voice. Poly-rhythmic clashing beats drift in and out of sync, then fade away to a solitary hollow tone, rising and falling, taking the listener out of the cacophony and transitioning to the next part. Spoken word recordings or text-to-speech vocals glitch and repeat to bridge us to the second part.
Part 2 begins more sparse and glitchy, continued distorted spoken word or text-to-speech climbs over ambient swells, and echoing, evolving pads. Melancholy, contemplative, meditative feelings contrast with Part 1's grind. Delay lines take the spoken word and layer it onto itself rhythmically. Then, a transition to more ominous and nostalgic textures takes place. Nostalgia evoked from the particular childhood fear of the dark - not to say that fearing the dark is childish, but rather that particular dread of unfathomable endless possibility I only recall from my own childhood.
Best listened to under the covers with a flashlight,or while working on an assembly line for broken dolls.
G
Links:
Annie Socoria - Club SAW 8/20/21 Recompiled: https://anniesocoria.bandcamp.com/album/club-saw-8-20-21-recompiled
Sisters with Transistors, by Lisa Rovner: https://sisterswithtransistors.com/
Club SAW: https://saw-centre.com/
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