Download from Bandcamp

What could music be if it were made of architecture?

Concrete Dreams of Sound explores the possibilities of a music that is born of, and dwells in, architecture. While many musical works explore the acoustic properties of architectural spaces, Concrete Dreams of Sound asks what music could be if it not only reflected architecture but was returned to it; made a part of it; belonged to it. Recorded and produced over a period of several months in 2023, Concrete Dreams of Sound entailed a detailed vibrational and acoustic exploration of The Barbican, an iconic Brutalist complex in London that embeds the utopian spirit of postwar modernism in architecture. This process entailed making sonic and vibrational recordings using a variety of instruments and sensors that capture airborne vibrations (sounds, echoes, and resonances in air), structure-borne vibrations (recording vibrations through walls, floors and surfaces, including of the Barbican’s famous patented concrete), underwater recordings in ponds and water features around the complex, as well as sounds and acoustic reflections in locations throughout the site: stairwells, hallways, alleyways, elevator shafts, basements, and more. These sounds were later returned and played back into those spaces, creating layers of architectural resonance and acoustic response. This process reveals sound as it materializes in relation to architecture. And, it reveals architectural spaces and materials as they are made perceptible in sound. A violin, which appears throughout the album, is used not as a musical instrument in the traditional sense, but rather as a device for activating architectural responses and mapping out spaces. We hear the micro-textures of building materials as they mediate sound and also receive it; we hear the concrete-ness of concrete and the glassiness of glass. As such, Concrete Dreams of Sound is music of and for architecture. It imagines architecture both as a listening device and as a listener: as something to listen to, and with, and as a thing that listens.

Built Sound is a label devoted to exploring the relationships between sound and architecture.

Our series A Building Made of Sound features albums that explore a building or architectural complex from an acoustic perspective. Through a process of listening, sensing, and acoustically activating architectures, a building's acoustic character is felt, imagined, and revealed.