I recently wrote a short piece for the Sirens performance installation, a part of the Vortex Odyssey. In collaboration with the director and writer we wanted to go for a loungy setting, which morphed a bit to the feeling of comforting pop music as an escape from reponsibility. To convey the feeling of sinking I started the piece with Shepherd Tones, an audio illusion induced by cyclic manipulation of the tones harmonics. After some spoken text, a descending chord progression kicks in, echoing the ever downward drone. The progression hesitates for an extra bar before reaching the octave, then continuing its downward trajectory.
Crash (Sirens underscore)