Chelsea Leventhal

This piece should be played at a very low volume, inaudible at the beginning. It is a relic of a series of tape miniatures that explored a fictitious landscape of metal and water. The eye’s process of adapting to the dark occurs in both rapid and slow processes on a biochemical, physical and neural level. The dilation of the pupil and convergence of rods in the retina are immediate reactions. However, the photoreceptor cells (rods and cones) take different amounts of time to adjust. The rods, which play a larger role in scotopic vision, may take more than 30 minutes to reach full sensitivity. During the process of dark adaptation the photopigments of the eye are regenerated and forms begin to come into focus. This piece attempts to simulate acoustically the experience of entering a very dark space. In this case, the hearing of the listener slowly sharpens and a sonic form emerges out of silence. This is a moment suspended in time, slowly recovering.