Garden Window is a long format electro-acoustic work that is based on very specific and very general experiences I had while travelling in Japan. As I began developing my language ability and cultural understanding, I inevitably became able to differentiate between the core and surface level differences between Canadian and Japanese culture. This realization was most evident in a large underground tunnel in the City of Sapporo, where a typical pedestrian walkway is interjected with performance spaces, vendors, cafes, artwork, stores, as well as entrances and exits that caused the individual people in the tunnel to always be changing. Although it simply people going about their everyday lives, the drastic change between the familiar and unfamiliar created a very specific and unique sensation as I made my daily walk through the tunnel. My ear would catch a few words or phrases I recognized, yet as quickly as it has passed, the feeling of confusion would return. Each trip through was akin to submerging one’s head underwater. It began with a slow immersion into the depths below the streets and trains, a prolonged period of blur and confusion while in the tunnel, and finally the return of clarity upon reaching the exit. Once I had returned to Canada, I was talking with a friend and found that I was having difficultly conveying exactly what made the experience so special and decided to compose Garden Window. Garden Window features pieces of sound and ideas that I had been collecting during my visit, and attempts to recreate the feeling my experience in the tunnel through a juxtaposition of the familiar with the unfamiliar and an exploration of associative sound gestures.

Source: 2014