The practice of creating any kind of art or music is oftentimes a strictly solitary affair: a lone producer in the dark making eerie sounds with only the glow of a computer screen and the tiny LEDs of the synthesizers to light the room. But for Portland artist Crystal Quartez, the link between herself, her audience, and the world around us is a core part of the music-making process.
A self-described “sound, installation artist & creative technologist”, Crystal Cortez uses field recordings, synthesis, audio programming, data sonification, and 3D sound spatialization in her music and live performances, often involving the audience as collaborators in the performance.
That mentality of shared creative experience was integral to Sonic Blooming, an immersive “sound walk” in Portland’s International Rose Test Garden created by attaching sensors to the flowers to collect their electrical impulses and translating the impulses into musical pitches and sound. Along with field recordings from the space itself, the combination became a sonic representation of the flowers in bloom.
Thankfully, the recording of this beautiful project is now available as a collaboration between Portland’s Form The Head and Beacon Sound labels. While the physical experience of the walk is absent on the recording, Cortez includes thoughtful suggestions for meditations to connect the listener to each song in a deeper way than passive listening. Whether meditating or simply listening, the sense of growth and change is still deeply present. Colorful, bold, and fragile like the plants themselves, each piece, named after the stages of flowering, contains a deep feeling of joy and a reminder that life is a process with its own movement and resonance. For us humans, it’s also a reminder that life and growth is very much a shared experience with more similarities than differences.
credits
released October 1, 2021
Commissioned by Portland Parks and Third Angle Music.
All sound created by Crystal Quartez and the plants in 2021.
Mastered by Jason Powers.
Photography by Clamber.
Design by Amelia Okabayashi.
This is a collaborative release by Form The Head and Beacon Sound.
supported by 12 fans who also own “Sonic Blooming”
Splash! Puzzling shoals pour from lips. Bubbling buoys of song tickling ears with ripples, fuzzy feels, a jacuzzi in your shell-like, an intimate sea of sound. Blissful but not becalmed. Jump in!
boogiedroid
supported by 10 fans who also own “Sonic Blooming”
Extremely hard to pick a fav track, 2,3,4,5 are all tied but yes Promenade is sensational. Your playing is emotional and poetic, a meditation. Anthemic. A massage, helping me through a very difficult time. Cheers ty you so much Saloli. dustrva
From NYC come these 10 songs shrouded in spectral synths and mysterious textures that alternately soothe & unsettle Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 10, 2023
The score for the quirky film starring Jim Gaffigan and Rhea Seehorn uses a lush pallette of synths to evoke a wide range of moods. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 6, 2023