Date of Submission

Spring 2021

Academic Program

Music

Project Advisor 1

Matthew Sargent

Abstract/Artist's Statement

The recorded portion of my senior project consists of an album titled Resort, as well as additional pieces of music and visual art. The album is vaguely narrative driven, exploring parent-child relationships during climate catastrophe, and the decay of the mind’s ability to process these apocalyptic events. Intentionally throughout this project, climate change and its effects are blatantly aestheticized and romanticized to create a sinister-optimistic dreamlike album. I began this project with a phrase that wouldn’t leave my head: "With rising seas, the whole world's Resort." The concept of "Resort" is one that comes from a fixation on the aesthetics of climate change. The hedonism of late capitalism, and with it pervasive hyperreality, is situated to oppose the reality of its deterioration, creating a unique media language.

The album consists of ten main songs in a rough sequence. Throughout the production process, I heavily utilized simple, free MIDI plugins, to convey simplicity and timelessness without relying on conventional methods of aural deterioration/distortion such as simulated tape warble or bitcrushing. I also employed ethical sampling techniques, mainly consisting of the resampling of self-created audio.

I relied upon many free or pirated mastering programs/plugins; I wanted to seek the distortion that comes from misuse of tools meant to make music sound more professional. All of the visual components of this project were created with a similar ethos. I used tools such as letsenhance.io, a website which used neural networks to enhance low-resolution images. I found that through multiple uses of this tool on images which I curated and reduced in quality, a dreamlike, painterly effect came through.

The links to the audio files, which are hosted on Bandcamp, are included in my artist's statement document.

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

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