An entheogenic audio sculpture built around the concept of internally rendered liminal spaces and superimposed visual and aural repetition of subconscious patterns within the listener.
Inspired by personal subconscious excavations, chaos theory/self similarity across different scales, the essay “The Cult of The Peacock Angel” by Erik Davis and Crowley’s poem Liber CCXLII:
“Ah, could I tell thee of
These infinite things of Light and Love!
There is the Peacock; in his fan
Innumerable plumes of Pan!
Oh! every plume hath countless eyes;
--Crown of created mysteries!---
Each holds a Peacock like the First.”
Climbing The Peacock’s Tail has been constructed using modular synthesis from very basic waveforms, signal routing and processing, combined and treated within a single platform to create a dense audio environment. The multiple layers of texture are infused with subtle movements and detunings across the stereo field to produce psychoacoustic responses within the listener. The provision of cyclical modulations and harmonic base allows the listener the space to impose their own imagined melodies and patterns throughout the duration of the piece along with any other visual representations of the landscape which may be conjured.
The piece should be played back on a constant loop via mp3/cd player and listened to via headphones, preferably in as dark and comfortable an environment as possible. Multiple headphones may be used to allow listeners the opportunity to experience the piece together as a shared passage of time.
Depending on available space and resources, the audio may also be played back in an enclosed, darkened space over a set of speakers, comfort and isolation will give listeners a more suitable environment to fully experience the piece.
MP3/CD Player with a repeat playback function
Headphones/multiple headphone mixer
or
Amplifier/Speakers (depending on method of installation)
This piece was exhibited as part of the Uncanny Sound exhibition at Tactic, Cork, Ireland in September 2011