Cabin Fever is a catalogue, a collective portrait, a eulogy to one of the strangest times in recent history. It is a global composition with many collaborators, both active and passive, human and technological. Drawing on a set of over 250 accounts of dreams collected from all over the world over the past year, this record is an excerpt, a few drifting moments from what is in reality a 24-hour audiovisual performance event shared through the video conferencing application Zoom. The 10 tracks move from time zone to time zone, where snatches of attempts to recall dreams in a range of languages wash over the listener.

All the music was composed specifically for live performance over Zoom, using the software’s electronic parameters as a new instrument which controls and uniquely adapts the performance, embracing the electronic glitches associated with this platform. The music is inspired by domestic sounds, pitches from kettles and washing machines, amplifying familiar noises and sounds from the homes, which during the pandemic became our cabins.

Esmeralda Conde Ruiz is an interdisciplinary composer of contemporary music, described as “a force of nature” (Choir and Organ Magazine). Her work revolves around real human voices and experiences, particularly the themes of memory and time, and how these can be presented through music. She specialises in choral and vocal pieces, especially innovative large-scale choirs. Her compositions often evolve from a visual starting point and develop into sound landscapes and rhythmical patterns.

Various Artists vocals
E Ensemble vocals

AUDIO

REVIEWS

“Ephemeral, magical, healing” Folda Festival

“An appropriately dreamlike atmosphere where loss of the message’s clarity gains meaning through the mystification of its transmission. Everything is permeated by tiny burrs and quivers in the transmitted sound, even at its most stable: a natural complexity previously denied to digital technology in music.” Boring Like a Drill

RECORDING CREDITS

Recorded online, around the world, by Esmeralda Conde Ruiz
Mixed by Esmeralda Conde Ruiz & Marco Caricola
Mastered by Marco Caricola

Release date: 19 November 2021
Cat No. BRC014