Melting Sands
Melting Sands explores sound as a sensuous and auratic focal point in composition, dealing with thresholds and tipping points in imaginary and physical spaces.
| Title | Melting Sands |
| Subtitle | for E-Guitar and Live-Electronics |
| Year | 2024 |
| Instrumentation | E-Guitar, Feedback Network |
| Duration | ~21:00 |
| Short Technical Description | e-git, HX Stomp multi-effect processor, amplifier | live-electronics → feedback network : mic, interface, computer 8 speakers |
| Premiere | 2024, December 5th |
| Premiere Details | Premiered in the opening concert of the project "Open Spaces. Tracing the Architecture of Time" |
| Location | Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (mdw) |
| Co-Author | Samuel Toro Pérez |
The sonic textures are inspired by materials such as near-molten glass, non-Newtonian fluids, and thawing ice. These materials evoke fundamental cultural techniques of human development while simultaneously alluding to the threats posed by the Anthropocene.
The exploration of space unfolds on multiple levels. Some sounds are triggered by visible gestures, while others are hardly or not at all perceptible visually. This creates a continuum between physically traceable and disembodied spectromorphologies, where space is not only seen but also felt and imagined.
In the collaborative process, bodies, instruments, and controllers form a connected organism that interacts with unstable, hard-to-control, and easily shifting elements. The "imperfection" within this system becomes an expression of the collective instrument's nature.
Instrumentally, the tendencies of this electronics-integrated instrument – its instability, unpredictability, and "flaws" – take center stage. In this sense, spaces and different levels of tension and tipping points become part of the compositional vocabulary.
— Micha Seidenberg / Samuel Toro Pérez
Melting Sands was created as part of Open Spaces. Tracing the Architecture of Time – a musical exploration of space conceived as physical and imaginary places or distances. The project consists of three chamber music works for electric guitar and electronics, each of which offers its individual perspective on this theme. At the same time, it is an international collaboration between the Swiss-based composers Elena Rykova and Micha Seidenberg and the Austrian-based electric guitarist, composer, and performer Samuel Toro Pérez. Open Spaces was presented during a tour with concerts in Austria and Switzerland in 2024–2025.
