Nathan Thompson: Shearwater 2010

A stalwart of the New Zealand sound-art scene, Otago-based Nathan Thompson's interest in sound art developed in the early 1990s. Thompson's artistic practice bridges the visual and the sonic; his sound projects include The Sandoz Lab Technicians and Eye, solo performances and collaborations with sound artists including Michael Morley, Peter Stapleton, Susan Ballard and Peter Porteous. Shearwater is a new piece created specifically for SUBSONIC that combines a wide variety of field and studio recordings to create a dreamlike soundscape. Seemingly harmonious, the sounds occasionally threaten to spill into dissonance as sporadic waves of white noise come to the fore then retreat into silence.