In the summer of 1966, Morton Feldman—a composer known for mournful elegance and minimalist restraint—was feeling down. In a free-form chat with John Cage at New York's WBAI studios, he found that a recent trip to the beach had been spoiled by the proliferation of transistor radios that were “rock 'n' roll”. Cage, always philosophical, was more cautious. “So, you know how I adapted to this ambient radio problem?” asked his friend and fellow avant-garde: He simply composed a piece using radios. Now, whenever he heard the rumblings of clashing shows in public, he continued, laughing: “I think, well, they're just playing my part.”
Chicago cellist and composer Lia Kohl mentioned Cage and Feldman's conversation in a recent interview, with good reason: Her music represents a similar approach to the racket of everyday life. On her 2023 album The ceiling restshe lifted snippets from the airwaves—drive-thru chatter, weather forecasts, stock reports—to use as random counterpoint to thoughtful cello improvisations and atmospheric synth sketches. It moves on Normal soundscasting her net to catch all manner of noises (humming refrigerators, honking ice cream trucks, honking cars) that she blends into a richly tonal, patiently melodic electro-acoustic blend.
There is plenty of precedent for this kind of everyday sound, particularly in electronic music. The late Peter Rehberg, working with Vienna's General Magic, placed contact microphones in a refrigerator to create the 1995 wink Trax refrigerator. Matthew Herbert moved into cookware and toothbrushes in 1998 Around the House; Matmos got every note of 2016 Ultimate Care II outside a Whirlpool washing machine. But Kohl — who calls her album “a love letter to the mundane sound world, to the part of my brain that just can't stop listening to everything, all the time” — takes a different approach than her predecessors.
Rehberg & General Magic and Matmos stayed true to the throbbing, humming style of their machines. Herbert swirls his original material in tasteful jazz house until its provenance is largely questionable. Kohl's approach is less transformative and more literal. Even if there weren't titles like “Car Alarm, Turn Signal” and “Ice Cream Truck, Tornado Siren,” there's a good chance you'll be able to recognize at least some of the sounds it uses. He makes no attempt to disguise the supermarket bells of 'Airport Fridge, Self Checkout' or the flight attendant's instructions, and the nearby video console plays 'Plane'. Instead, she uses them as creative prompts for her own writing, playing what she overhears and finding music on occasion, just as Steve Reich exploited the musicality of his interlocutors. Different trains.
