Intimate Space Study 1a is a slightly dystopian meditative interlude that, thanks to the improvising performer, will always be a bit less restful than hoped for. I wrote the work during my time at the KMH in Stockholm. As the title already says, my motivation was to work more intensively with spatialization. It was also the start of a series of pieces exploring the topic and the concept of intimacy in a musical context (see also DU-O, FMO_INTER, and Inneres Insektenballett).

The composition is based on the form of a guided meditation and wants to provide the audience with a moment for themselves during the lunchtime concert it was premiered at. Everything is marginally altered, though, in such a way that it is never really possible to relax, from the slightly too loud crackling ASMR sounds to the constant unexpected moving of the voice in the space and the detuned saxophone pitches. There are various processes taking place to create a discrepancy between the instructions in the text and reality.


Another element not to be missed is the performer themselves. Calm and supportive at first, the instrumentalist takes over and breaks up the whole thing, expressing the struggles of keeping an empty head in a world overfilled with sensory information.


Intimate Space Study 1a was premiered in May 2019 during CoPeCo’s Mixtape concert at the Lilla Salen in Stockholm.