Ninth Ocean

Today, Ninth Ocean, is the 226th day of this leap year. If not for the leap-year day, yesterday would have been the 224th day. Earlier in the year, Ocean days in the Universal Solar Calendar followed multiples of 12 - First Ocean was on the 13th day, Second Ocean was on the 25th day, and so on. While 224 at first seems like a multiple of 12, it actually isn't and for a while now, Ocean days have turned up seemingly at random in the Universal Solar Calendar. 

Fun fact - writer H.G. Wells died on this day in 1946. The same day, however, economist and current U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen was born. If that's not proof of reincarnation right there, I don't know what is.

It's been our practice this year to commemorate each Ocean day with the corresponding composition in Elaine Radigue's Occam Ocean series. Laetitia Sonami originally studied with Radigue in France in 1976, although their music eventually took on very different forms - Radigue migrated from use of primarily electronic sounds to traditional acoustic instruments, while Sonami went on to explore use of unique electronic controllers in live-performance settings. In 2011, Sonami requested Radigue to create a piece for her new instrument, the Spring Spyre. Their meetings took place during the winter 2012 in France, after which Radigue gave her permission to premiere the piece in the fall of 2013. 

Three audio pick-ups on the Spring Spyre are analyzed and trained through neural networks to create subtle real time modulations of digital synthesis. The work mode is based on an individual image illustrated and evoked within each solo, where each musician is guided by his or her own personal image. This provides the essential sound, letting descriptive words and evocations establish a system of communication as the piece is being elaborated. This intuitive-instinctive process guides the performer to the very essence of the composition. Sonami describes the process as akin to oral transmission of ancient traditional music. The performance below was recorded in October 2017.