Live performance, 1 hour 30 mins, 2022
Commissioned by Hospitalfield, Echo in the Dark is an ambitious collaborative project directed by Hanna Tuulikki, weaving together music and live participatory performance to explore interconnections of raving and bat echolocation as a model for ecological coexistence.
At the heart of Echo in the Dark is a set of electronic dance music tracks created in collaboration with music producer Tommy Perman, made entirely from bat echolocation calls blended with the human voice. The bat sounds, collected through a UK wide open call and by working locally with Tayside Bat Group, form a library of sounds which Tuulikki and Perman sampled to create 13 tracks, each focusing on a different species in the British Isles. The beats and melodies of the music were made by processing and manipulating these sonar samples, synthesising them with Tuulikki’s distinct voice, to create an ephemeral human-bat hybrid world. The tracks also feature samples of bat-related popular culture, as well as spoken word from renowned philosopher Timothy Morton, whose experience of being part of a mass of dancing bodies inform their ideas about ecological awareness.
Drawing on fifty years of electronic music history, Echo in the Dark is conceived as a love letter to dance music, with an invitation to tune into the more-than-human frequencies of bats, to feel the beat and explore the space where species meet. In July 2022, a limited-edition lathe cut 7″ and digital download was released with Scottish label Blackford Hill, featuring two tracks, with an album release in the pipeline. As a live event, Echo in the Dark was first realised as a series of silent ‘bat raves’, experienced with studio quality closed ear headphones, and augmented by choreography, animation, lights and lasers, premiering in September 2022 on the grounds of Hospitalfield in Arbroath, Scotland. The work is being developed for touring in 2023 – for booking enquiries please email cicely@hospitalfield.org.uk
Read/view more + full company credits here
Photo 1. Laurence Winram, 2. Tiu Makkonen
