The Original Concept

By Sapphira

Initially our intention was to create a piece that evolved from primal to present. We considered the ideas of sexuality, emotion, and suffering and the transformation of their perception from integral parts of life to stigmatisation and clinical safety. The early drafts of this piece were far longer than the final product. This early version could be approximately divided into three sections. The first of these sections was much the same as the final product: lynx vocalisations layered with human vocalisations as well as both vocalisations vocoded onto one another. The human elements gradually transformed into discernible words, and the middle section began when these transformed human sounds were joined by a confused jumble of plain human speech and eventually an electronic drone as well. While the first two sections were chaotic and almost structureless aside from the aforementioned transition, the final section was rhythmic and used a combination of ordinary vocoding and synthesisers. By the end, the electronic drone was the only sound remaining. We were interested in the concept of ambiguous wrongness or the discomforting as a stimulus for abstract work. This was likened to our impression  of how our civilisation has advanced from its primitive roots; humans feel the same primal emotions as other animals but have grown to mask them behind an ambiguous and clinical veil. The auditory and visual elements of the piece were developed largely simultaneously. Due to the unconventional nature of the piece and the nature of its development, I effectively functioned as a secondary choreographer while Zara functioned as a secondary sound artist (despite neither of us having significant knowledge of one another's fields).