Wild City #245: Pale Blue Dotter

With field recordings of birds and frogs stitched between transient meanderings of synths and soundscapes from her own work and that of her contemporaries from the experimental music space of India like Hemant SK, Bengal Chemicals and REVANT, Surbhi Mittal aka Pale Blue Dotter's Wild City mix is like no other. But then again the New Delhi sound artist isn't interested in being an artist like any other, often questioning the default notions around listening and creation and consequently finding space for her work in art galleries, theatrical productions and the sombre corners of music festivals as well.

Yet the mix isn't a snippet-to-snippet glimpse of leftfield music but could work as an album with a clear cohesion and intention – showcasing the magic of raw moments of inspiration that propel creation and juxtaposing them with profound reflections on self, the world and the relation between the two.

"This mix challenges the focus of contemporary electronic music on finished tracks as a measure of an artist’s work. Featuring interstitial audio snippets, it is an exploration of the creative process as the site where a bulk of the work takes place." – Pale Blue Dotter

Direct Download Wild City #245: Pale Blue Dotter

Tracklisting

00:00 – Snippet from आज़ाद पंछी / free bird, a multichannel composition by pale blue dotter / Surbhi created as a part of Serendipity Arts Residency and Festival, 2023

02:04 – RAVERS III, a snippet by REVANT developed while working on an upcoming album

04:18 – field recording featuring migratory birds that visit the Yamuna between October and March made by pale blue dotter / Surbhi

05:04 – Recording of Unbound, a graphic score developed by pale blue dotter / Surbhi and commissioned by GIOfest in 2024, being played by in the free jam for synth hang #8 (Pranav Nigam, Kaushal Sapre, Shiv Ahuja, Abhishek Mathur, Aditya Ghosh, Surbhi Mittal, Rishabh Bhan Singh)

13:32 – Clarinet Test 1, a snippet by sirf paudhon se pyaar

15:41 – Free Will, a unit by Hemant Sreekumar that was only released on a limited tape set - not a digital internet release

19:33 – পিরমল িনেকতন, a snippet by Bengal Chemicals

25:03 – pale blue dot, a monologue by Carl Sagan delivered after being inspired by the photograph of Earth taken by Voyager II

26:18 – field recording featuring the frogs of Pondicherry after a day of rain made by pale blue dotter / Surbhi using microphones borrowed from Nicolas Prevôt

26:56 – Snippet from Thresholds, a live set being developed by pale blue dotter / Surbhi

35:44 – an untitled snippet by Khushboo Jain developed while working on an upcoming album titled “Call of the Dawn”