Sounds of the Unborn was recorded by Psychic Ills bassist Elizabeth Hart and Argentine producer Iván Diaz Mathé while Hart was pregnant with their daughter, Luca Yupanqui. Using biosonic MIDI technology, the pair attached devices to Hart's belly and translated the vibrations and heartbeats into sound waves, controlling synthesizers and producing improvised, free-flowing electronic music. They recorded several sessions and edited the results into an album after Luca's birth, with the baby present in the studio during the ...
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Sounds of the Unborn was recorded by Psychic Ills bassist Elizabeth Hart and Argentine producer Iván Diaz Mathé while Hart was pregnant with their daughter, Luca Yupanqui. Using biosonic MIDI technology, the pair attached devices to Hart's belly and translated the vibrations and heartbeats into sound waves, controlling synthesizers and producing improvised, free-flowing electronic music. They recorded several sessions and edited the results into an album after Luca's birth, with the baby present in the studio during the mixing process, aware and in awe of the sounds she had played a major part in creating. The audio itself is a strange mélange of rapidly pulsating heartbeats, amniotic textures, and reflexive movements, resembling an unstructured blend of dark ambient, post-industrial, and glitch. It's entirely at home on a label that sometimes releases horror film scores -- the clattering, swooping opening piece "V5" could easily soundtrack an intense psychological thriller. "V1" feels more like a fractured broadcast from another dimension, straining to transmit some sort of coded message. Other tracks feel much lighter -- Hart must have been in a more relaxed state when "V2.1" was recorded, as it sounds significantly more tranquil and weightless, even approaching a simple melody and faint, rippling beats before bursts of delay drive it back downward. "V3.2" sounds more like several streams of water drops trickling into a pool in a cave, gradually clustering before somehow resisting gravity and scattering outward. "V4.2" begins with flute-like notes which become suspended before gradually elevating, recalling some of Pauline Anna Strom's alien soundscapes. Yet like much of the rest of the album, there's something familiar and comforting about it as well. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi
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