Soufflerie

Soufflerie is an organ record with no organ in it: six registrations for a pipe organ I built in sound and tuned to my own voice. I measured 216 held notes from my recordings and folded them into one tuning, octaves pure and fifths twelve cents wide. The beating of those wide fifths is the only rhythm on the record. My recorded voice sounds within the instrument, and the breaths between phrases become its wind. The trombone 16′ rank is voiced from the trombone of Simon Sieger.

The registrations take their names from the French classical organ: Plein Jeu, Tierce en Taille, Voix Céleste, Fonds d’Orgue, Récit de la Voix Humaine and Grand Jeu. Jazz harmony is held until it dissolves.

The complete film walks through a constructed wood for just over an hour. Each registration brings a different weather: cold light, a warm shaft, a doubled forest, low mist, an organ façade among the trunks, and the full registration. Light follows the beating, mist responds to the bass, and the pace changes with the music. Each registration also has its own film.