year:

2020​

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instrumentation:

fixed media (stereo)

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duration:

11'33"

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written for:

Pandemic Media Space

The Pandemic Media Space project was an inspiring creative challenge for me. I was considering how to choose the right tool for the piece, having in mind, that due to pandemics, it is impossible to plan the direct interaction with the audience. That’s why I decided to compose a stereo track, which everyone could listen to on their devices, regardless of the technical equipment or isolation restrictions. The main inspiration for The Empty Mall Lofi Serenade was the internet phenomenon of remixing evergreens, (the Toto’s Africa is a classic example) to imitate them playing back in the abandoned shopping centres. That simple procedure results in a very touching musical image of longing and solitude. The emotional aspect of those remixes was brilliantly described by Jia Tolentino1 in ‘New Yorker’ in 2018. The absence of interaction with the common public places, including their unique sonic features, is noticeable even more explicit through the lockdowns. In the presented piece, I decided to expand this idea even further: by creating several independent reverberated artificial sound spaces, through which the musical material was filtrated. I started with making some lofi hip hop tracks. I picked that nostalgic genre, as, during the time of isolation, its soothing nature become extremely supportive for me (see playlists like Will Smith’s chill beats to quarantine to). Then, the music was sent to the mentioned earlier, virtually built reverberated rooms. I worked with the idea of frozen time, long decay, and slow deconstruction of the lofi timbres.  

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