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Sonic Woodland

Joe Acheson is a Composer, musician, sound artist, re-mixer and music producer mainly known for releasing and performing music as Hidden Orchestra

Sonic Woodland: Glade is the third installment in the series, and takes the form of a glade in the forest at Kelburn, Scotland, in which five trees perform a generative cello canon from 2021.
The installation seeks to reflect the invisible natural processes which are constantly taking place in such a glade, with all the plants and trees cooperating to survive and thrive.
Carefully programmed AI creates the arrangement of the cello canon, with layers of melodies from the individual trees combining to create rich harmonies which swirl around the glade,
echoing the exchange of nutrients, minerals and water through the underground mushroom network which connects them by their roots (mycorrhizal symbiosis).
Randomisation is also used to trigger short bursts of sounds which bounce from tree to tree, much more sporadically - pianos, log drums, woodpeckers tapping morse code, synth arpeggios -
representing the release of Volatile Organic Compounds (usually gases) which trees can use to send each other messages, warnings of pests and disease.

Cello performed by Rebecca Knight of the City of London Sinfonia.

Joe Acheson & Hidden Orchestra

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