D Bayne - Projects

Following is a history of current and previous projects.

Alexander Calder Flamingo

Chicago Loops

Chicago Loops is a collection of field records made downtown in Chicago's Loop neighborhood. Each photograph was taken at the same place each audio recording was made. The character of these recordings is much more static than the Meditations on Present Time series. Eschewing an obvious narrative, the focus is to highlight the subtle events and changes occurring over the course of each recording's longer duration. The purpose of these recordings is to serve as a basis for a series of duos based on the acoustic material in each field recording.

Hong Kong

Each of these eleven recordings were made in August of 2015 while studying at the University of Chicago Booth's Hong Kong campus. Together, they paint an aural picture of the incredible intensity and diversity of the city. The variety of sounds is particularly surprising given that each of these recordings was made within a five miles radius within the Wan Chai and the Central and Western Districts.

Hong Kong at Night
Chapel Rock Lake Superior

Meditations on Present Time

This project is an open collection of duets between found sound and piano. Each field recording is less than five minutes in length. An image taken at the site where each field recording was made ties the recording to a place and to a lesser extent a time. Each duet is both a reaction to the general impression of the sounds as well as a dialog with the inherent narrative of each recording. In some cases, these narratives are nearly static. In other cases, more dynamic. The role of the piano is to react to the specific sonic elements in each short recording and expose the unique narrative found within each one.

Penobscot Bay Center Harbor

Penobscot Bay

The chief tributary of Penobscot Bay, the Penobscot River, winds through a total of 264 miles with a drainage basin of 8,610 square miles. The river includes four branches each originating in mountain lakes. The Penobscot River is the longest river system contained entirely within the state of Maine. The islands of the Penobscot Bay archipelago are innumerable but some of the larger include Deer Isle, Isle au Haut, Matinicus Isle, Nautilus Island, North Haven and Vinalhaven.

This Unfamiliar Place

This Unfamiliar Place

This Unfamiliar Place was an evening of photography and music: an exhibition of black-and-white prints by Kelly McCracken and the premiere of two new sets of music composed by D Bayne. Though these may be unfamiliar correlations - the Holga camera and the bass clarinet, light leaks and free improvisation - this was a collaborative project. Each of the musical compositions on the program were inspired by one of the photographs on display.