Constriction by AJ Cornell issues from a confluence of episodes of Chaud pour le mont stone, a radio art programme operated by Martine H. Crispo on CKUT 90.3FM in Montreal since the early 90s. The piece centers on and branches out from an episode where Cornell used re-amped radios, accordion, the high frequency hiss of a radiator, and a tone generator (operated by Mara Fortes) fluctuating between 20 and 30 Hz. Cornell had previously conducted some tests about the limits of FM radio's frequency response. She found that a carrier wave saturated with a low frequency tone could be used to modulate other sources, functioning like a gate of sorts capable of distorting and cutting out the secondary source. This technique (working with frequencies that fall outside of the optimal range of frequencies the FM carrier wave is capable of reproducing with a certain fidelity) has a muffling effect on the other sounds being sent through the transmission. Cornell hears it as constricting the transmission space and creating a muffled aesthetic that elicits an effort on the listening apparatus. The on-air performance with the tone generator was mixed in with elements from other improvised radio performances, some recorded with instruments, small synthesizers, resonant bowls, field recordings of rocks on a thinly iced pond, cassette tape field recording collages, and the lamentations of the metal gate outside the radio studio window.
AJ Cornell is a sound artist who transforms, arranges and transmits sonic material across radio frequencies, through live performance, and as accompaniment to moving images. Using amplified objects, field recordings, electronics, and acoustic sounds, Cornell seeks to create moments of suspended time and infinite possibility. The practice of listening and improvisation reside at the core of her solo practice. Cornell is a member of Le fruit vert, a hymnotic duo founded with Marie-Douce St-Jacques in 2011.
The Deep Wireless 18 Compilation Album is produced by New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) for the 2024 edition of the annual Deep Wireless Festival of Radio & Transmission Art. The works on the album 'reimagine' the voices and sounds of broadcast transmission and uncover the ghosts of the ether and the latent musicality between station signals. Featured on this album are works from Canada, Portugal and the UK by Bekah Simms, Keith de Mendonca, Cláudio de Pina, Martín Rodriguez, Kat Estacio, AJ Cornell and Rutmeat.
Editions 9 through 17 of the Deep Wireless Compilation are available on NAISA's Soundcloud site. Previous compact disc editions can be heard online at naisa.ca/media-archive/compactdiscs/
Copyright of the works belongs to the artists who have agreed to have their work on this compilation album.
Note that Deep Wireless 18 is not available for download. Community and public radio or internet broadcasters should contact NAISA directly for access to the works for airplay. Contact naisa@naisa.ca for more information.
Artistic Director: Darren Copeland
Executive Director: Nadene Thériault-Copeland
Image Illustration: Prashant Miranda
New Adventures in Sound Art acknowledges that it is located on the traditional territory of the Anishinabe peoples covered by the Williams Treaty (1923) and Robinson-Huron Treaty (1850). New Adventures in Sound Art recognizes the significant ongoing contributions of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples to aural culture in the country known as Canada.
