ABSTRACT
Through its duration of more than 6 minutes, “Cirice” (Old English: “church”) traverses a number of sonic environments befitting its overarching themes and lyrical content. From a listener perspective, “Cirice” features multiple examples of what William Moylan has termed “host environments” within its “overall environment.” Drawing on the aforementioned phonomusicological studies, as well as works by Edward and Allan Moore that consider proxemics, this chapter will apply a tech-processual analytical mode to the track in order to reveal the sonic construction and perception of 4 distinct environmental and emotional situ as sonically discernible in “Cirice.” Applications of dynamics and time-based signal processing, and the proximity of instruments to each other and to the foreground and background of the mix situate the listener in a range of different spaces. Firstly, the foregrounding of an organ and voice with significant applied time-based signal processing in a lengthy, reverberant space clearly fabricates the inside of a church. Secondly, lyrical references to thunder are reinforced with a timpani leitmotif. Thirdly, temporal and spatial manipulation at times abandons the listener and protagonists in desolate spaces, indicating isolation and defection. Lastly, and by contrast, similar temporal manipulations are reversed, thus indicating connection and allegiance.
