Four Tales is rooted in Pauline Oliveros’ philosophy of deep listening as an act of care and employs sound and extended forms of listening to form a sensibility of community between people and their surrounding architecture and ecosystems. Sound and architecture unite in a conversation that expands our senses and entangles our rhythms with all other pulses that surround us. The album extends Meireles’ collaborative project DRIFT, which centers on a modular, site-specific floating pavilion and public space in Belfast, with two local architecture studios (OGU and MMAS), commissioned by Belfast City Council as part of the Belfast 2024 cultural programme.
The floating pavilion was conceived as an open-ended public space that fosters new perspectives on city-river connections, and floated at two sites, Stranmillis Weir and Belfast City Centre, throughout August and September 2024. It hosted events focusing on the river environment, ranging from plant workshops and concerts to bat detection and stargazing, while Meireles offered a series of works exploring the multisensory nature of the two sites. This project offered opportunities for stillness and attentive listening, as well as dialogues between people and place.
The album Four Tales translates DRIFT’s communal ethos into four extended, intriguing, and highly immersive sonic forms, focusing on the theme of fluidity, which extends beyond human narratives. The four, untitled parts float between documented and imagined streams, urban infrastructures, and bodies of water, all explored as entangled entities to be carefully tended to.
via Percosi Musicali