Recording | Mixing | Sound Design

2124 is a data sonification work for percussive rudiment and glacier ice. Projection data that maps the future recession of the Breiðamerkurjökull outlet glacier in southeast Iceland informs the ever increasing tempo of the piece. Based on this data set, alongside the continuously repeating left hand (L) and right hand (R) sticking pattern (LL-R-LL-RRRR; 2-1-2-4), each iteration of the rhythmic sequence represents one year of time. In this way, listeners can hear how quickly the glacial mass will change over the next century.

Additionally, a series a microphones and field recordings create a sound design narrative. The journey from handheld microphones, to contact microphones positioned between the ice block and the glacier’s surface; to impulse responses taken within the Sapphire Ice Cave; to field recordings of supra-, en-, and subglacial meltwater streams, take listeners from the surface of Breiðamerkurjökull, into the ice itself, and finally through its state change from solid ice to liquid water.

Composed by Konstantine Vlasis
Produced by Jake Lyons
Performed by Chris Parker
Audio by Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan
Directed by Marcus Neudigate