Simon Šerc has an amazing new ambient release entitled CMBR out now on Silent Records. Created using data from the Planck space telescope, the album’s four tracks are an invitation to listen to the oldest sounds in the universe. The satellite has recorded measurements from the coldest, most distant objects in space, and by extension, it has offered insight into the moment of creation and beyond. This Big Bang still resonates as cosmic microwave background radiation or the CMBR, recorded by the Planck telescope as small misalignments “of the red and blue amplitude in the radiation of the universe black body.”
This still radiating blast of light/sound is the “noise signal” that fills the universe. As source material, one might say Šerc has chosen THE source material. Using an algorithm to convert spectra from the CMBR fluctuations into sound, the composer reports that “values for power as a function of wavelength are transformed into values for frequency as a function of time.” Additionally, the results are “intertwined with randomized sequences of cosmological parameters” and processed using a “higher dimensionality to the rendering” allowing for accidental and random resonances to take shape.
While CMBR‘s conceptual underpinning is fascinating in its own right, the sonic results are equally gratifying. With much to chew on when considering the ontological implications of cosmic microwave background radiation, Šerc’s compositions themselves are also actual doorways into deeper internal realms. Sonorous drones resonate in meditative oscillations as the frisson of white noise seems to spark with life itself. This might not be Easy Listening music for your next Yoga Power session, but those seeking to dive into the sonorous fabric of creation itself will find everything they need here!
