(1986) Solo Tape

Photoskia is a Greek word meaning shadow / light, and refers to the qualities of spectral elements, or colour in the music.

The sound sources for the tape are violin, contrabass, baritone saxophone, and soprano and tenor voices.  The music is based on the acoustic properties of the vowels [u], [a] and [i], which are treated as a harmonic progression.  The sound colour of individual instruments orchestrates the vowels, in a sense ‘composing’ the characteristic colour within each vowel sound.  The sounds of the instruments are not electronically modified, but are layered to create a single entity, or vowel sound.

Listen (excerpt):