On Air - On Site : 48 Hours of Radio Art

Airing on May 23rd 11:45 CEST
this silent storm // unseen, but Felt
Genre: Electroacoustic music
Duration: 15 min
This is an excerpt from a generative composition, built in ableton live. If you open the ableton live session and press play, it keeps unfolding endlessly, as a piece of constant inconsistency. The core of the work is built around several electric guitar samples I recorded, and then reversed them so they play backwards. The session then endlessly jumps between different parts of these samples in a random order, and the resulting sounds are manipulated through a network of effects, where several of the parameters are constantly being varied at random. This overlaid levels of unpredictability work with the same core material, but always presenting it in an ever-changing, yet consistent manner.

The result is one of a somewhat confused sonic environment, where things are always settled, yet constantly unsettled. It hints at a tense state, where nothing quite stays in place, yet it is a place that can be calm to stay in as a listener. It’s a world that hints at inner tensions, but also external tensions that have an effect on the inner world. Yet, if you allow yourself to sit patiently and give in to this world, it can be somehow a calm and meditative world at the same time.

The work was completed in 2021, and a 5-minute excerpt was originally published under the pseudonym JamAlexan, on the compilation album Compilation004: 귀신소리 "Ghost Sound" by Unheard Records.

Featuring:

James A.-McEwan

James A.-McEwan is a Greek–Scottish composer and electric guitarist based in The Hague. His work seeks a space between contemporary classical music, drone music, offbeat rock, and electronic music. His output includes installation-esque musical performances which use DIY electronic elements, arrays of speakers and screens of varying qualities, and at times also the audience’s smartphones, and he is a member of the immersive audio-visual project Flowers/Ghosts&Echoes. His work seeks for contemplation, immersion and exploration in material that can be dense and complex, yet accessible and hiding within it elements of harmonic and melodic simplicity. These works seek beauty and meaning inside often abrasive and rough exteriors.

https://www.instagram.com/james.a.mcewan

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22-24 May 2026 - 48hours of Radio Art +6