Robert Laidlow

@robertlaidlow.bsky.social

149 Followers 160 Following

Composer // interested in creativity, computers, astro/particle physics, video games, birdsong // senior fellow King's College London Music Dept robertlaidlow.co.uk

"TECHNO-UTOPIA explores human music-making in the age of algorithms and how making and listening to music constructs what it means to be human. It stands against modern techno-utopianism, which reduces culture and music to merely data, and at the same time offers alternative - positive - futures for how new technology might unlock new forms of artistic expression (at least, for me). It is also a highly personal piece, particularly the third movement which is comprised of a patchwork of hundreds of musical quotes, samples and memories from my own life – a dataset a computer could never understand, no matter how powerful it is.​​ ​In the first movement, "In My Image," the soloist wields sonic "commands" that progressively transform the orchestra's music into uniform algorithmic patterns. Here, I was thinking about the tendency of algorithms to erase anything they don't understand, homogenising human experience into something "learnable". ​ The second movement features "stacco," a newly-developed adaptive instrument which responds to the orchestra on stage. The stacco captures the last moments of the first movement, and the soloist uses it to fragment, destroy and reconstitute orchestral sounds. This section is both human and non-human; this highly non-human instrument is controlled, physically and expressively, by the soloist manipulating it with their hands. ​"Everything I Have Ever Heard Is Just Data," the final movement, challenges the notion that AI can truly understand music. The music is collaged from approximately 200 personal memories - pieces of music, field recordings, fragments of conversation. I wanted to write something celebrating the fact that our connection with sound and music extends far beyond data. The orchestra performs alongside samples from its own past recordings, blending my own memories with those of the musicians, ensemble and audience."