"Those who thrive in my forged form" - an experimental handpan feedback composition
This composition is based around the idea of an "echo chamber" or in other words one's biased thoughts when no external point-of-view is present.
And how it changes with new perspective.
The video was made before the music and works as a visual notation for the actual performance of the music. It's recorded in one take and minimal processing was done in an attempt to preserve the original feel in the room.
The recording technique reflects the theme. The handpan is in a feedback loop with itself. Let me try to explain.
There's a speaker underneath the instrument and a microphone above it.
Sendin the microphone signal straight to the speaker would result in a very loud feedback noise. So instead it's sent through some effects to control the sound loudness and to bring out some of the natural harmonics and resonances of the handpan.
This results in some pretty eerie and maybe not surprisingly metallic sounds.
Later in the video an outside influence appears. That's when I start singing in the same microphone. So you're hearing my voice as it's resonating in the handpan and thus influencing the way it's resonating with itself.
This changes the feel of the music drastically and again reflects the idea of how our "echo chamber" can change with new perspective.
It's not only the handpan or my voice.
It's a combination of the two. And couldn't be achieved in any other way.
Please let me know what you think of this piece. It's a very different kind of approach to composition than I've done before and it's something I'm planning to explore further and perform live as well as create some generative installations with. This isn't exclusively a handpan thing of course. I've tried this with a guitar and a drum as well with interesting results.
Thank you for watching!
You can follow me on Instragram @elossamusic for more micro-updates and general cacophony :)