SOUND OF THE WEEK PT. 66: CORIN

Corin, you’re a Filipina-Australian electronic producer, composer and performer. You recently released your album “Lux Aeterna”. Where did your inspiration for this work come from?
The title for the album was inspired by a choral work by Hungarian 20th century composer György Ligeti  which appears in the movie 2001:Space Odyssey. At the time I was making the album I was inspired by soundtracks from science fiction films from the past and present. I like to think of the album as some sort of pseudo-archaic celestial opera, ecstatic trance reimagined within the context of sacred liturgy. I used a lot of gregorian chant samples but then transfigured them to the point that they’re unrecognisable like an alien language, and then recontextualised – adding warped industrial percussion or synthy trance lines. Sometimes my inspirations can be quite visual – when I was creating ‘Miserēre’ I had a vision of a broken lullaby sung by a sighing choir of malfunctioning androids.
During that time I was also inspired by some sound design experiments I was doing that explored the illusion of sound as gravitational. I work as a composer for dance and performance art works often composing in surround sound, so it makes sense that there would be some crossover of these ideas into my music releases.

The album is accompanied by an A/V show with VFX animations. What is your connection with digital technology as a musician?
I’ve been working for a few years with visual artist Tristan Jalleh who makes amazing hyper-realistic CGI animations. He’s created all the visuals for my past music videos and AV shows including the Lux Aeterna AV show which I will be presenting soon. I’ve always seen digital technology as an inherent part of my craft. Being an electronic producer it makes sense to have a strong visual world which is in the digital realm. The visual worlds I’ve been drawn to are always rooted in digital technologies and futuristic realms whether that be video games or sci-fi films.

You were one of the artistic directors for this visual journey. What is your relationship with mythology and ancient cultures in your creation of soundtracks and futuristic universes?
Yes, I helped to artistically direct the visuals for Lux Aeterna. I think I’m always trying to find some symbiosis of elements that are rooted in both the past and the future. Taking visual or sonic inspiration from something in the past, and then reframing it in a way that speaks to the contemporary world, or perhaps even clashes. I like to refer to this as ‘future folklore’ – a term used by Club Ate, a collective that I’m part of. I think it’s important to remember also that our conceptions of past-present-future epochs are culturally specific, and tend to be dominated by Western ideologies of time. Thinking of ‘future folklores’ –  the past-present-future are always speaking to each other on a never-ending continuum.

What brings you to Berlin and the Berlin Atonal 2023 festival?
I think Berlin has always been an interesting cultural hub with artists passing through all the time so I’m always interested to present my work here. I’ve also always been very impressed with the curation of Berlin Atonal and also their stage setup with the vertical projection screen.

Will you be offering a performance at Berlin Atonal 2023 similar to the performance presented in your recently released music video?
Yes, I just released a VFX performance music video. I have a background in classical piano and the music video features a performance of myself performing the title track from my recently released album ‘Lux Aeterna’ (UIQ) on a hybrid virtual keyboard instrument. The Lux Aeterna Live AV performance that I will present at Atonal is similar to the music video in the sense that it is based around my performance on the keyboard, with some synths and sampler. Of course the music video is more of an elevated fantasy experience because of the VFX enhancement but the basis of my performance is always there.

What sentiments and hopes do you intend to evoke through your performances and visual material?
I’d like to create a sense of longing, a nostalgic feeling of something that is deeply ancient and rooted in the past – but at the same time utopic – a hopeful feeling for the future. When we were creating the video the main thing that stuck was the idea of a desert landscape – a utopic vision of the future whereby the infrastructure of the earth is powered by the sun. I was researching the hydraulis – an early type of organ powered by water and thinking about ancient musical instruments as spirits, sacred objects, extensions of our bodily existence, vessels or portals into another. How could we create an instrument that’s ancient and future at the same time – that was the core idea.In general in my performances and music I’m interested in creating this balance of darkness and lightness, tension and release. A narrative which is dynamic, and you sense the ebbs and flows.
Moving in between moments of expansiveness and deep vulnerability and alienation.

What future digital performances would you like to create?
I’m not sure at the point in time, but I’m curious to continue this experiment of creating hybrid virtual instruments.

Pictures courtesy JOSHUA HOURIGAN
Creative Direction & Styling VY NGUYEN
Makeup MOOCHI
Hair JAY BLITSAS