SLOWLY I WAKE UP TO MY OTHER LIFE

First thing after waking up, I often feel like I’m in an in between state, where memories of dreams and of waking life are blurred. Sometimes these moments last seconds, other times they can last for minutes, making me confused about place and time. My voice is deeper in pitch, softer, words coming at a slow pace, or not coming at all.

The piece Slowly I wake up to my other life is an intimate story about listening to the soft voice — the one we hear in our dreams, and in our thoughts — and the one we keep for our loved ones. It pays tribute to the intimacy of voice messages, specifically those that are recorded early in the morning, or just after sleep. The work consists of such recordings, gathered from my friend Camila and from myself, as well as music that is specifically composed to hold and take care of these fragile states of being: imagining that this state is a place that we share between us. This is a place for vulnerability, for hesitation, for the spaces in between. Slowly I wake up to my other life is a poetic radio composition about not knowing what to choose, where to live, or how to spend the days that come and go, and about coming to terms with the uncertainty of life and attempting to stay curious. With it, I’m hoping to bring intimacy out through the speakers and wrap it like a thin and warm blanket around the listener, bringing you closer, drawing you near, as if the radio is the hearth and our voices are the crackling of fire.

The dreamer — Camila de Laborde

Violin & double bass improvisations — Vilde & Inga

(Vilde Sandve Alnæs & Inga Margrete Aas)

Supercollider patches and sinus waves — Niklas Adam

Modular synth — Niklas Adam & Jenny Berger Myhre

Composed by Jenny Berger Myhre

Thanks to Håvard Volden for the Revox B77 tape machine.

A co-commission between Borealis and Radiophrenia.

Thank you so much to Camila for the collaboration.

Photos by Helge Brekke from the Borealis Festival Preview at Munchmuseet, march 2022.

Video filmed by Manuel Madsen at Sights & Signs, Periferien festival at Kulturkirka Jakob, august 2022.