Daniel Formo – Orchestra of Speech

With a unique and distinctive sound and a custom built one-man band of hybrid digital and acoustic instruments, this release explores the rich musical expressivity that is part of spoken language – from the intricate interplay in conversation to the bright melodies of baby speech, the dramaturgy in public speeches, the steady rhythm of reporting, to the intensity in heated arguments and the solemn tone of declarations. Orchestra of Speech presents an intriguing series of genre-defying compositions entirely based on recordings of different genres of everyday speech.

For creating and performing this music, Daniel Formo has developed custom software for analysing and ‘orchestrating’ speech into music in real time. The system is connected to an electroacoustic setup of speakers, telephones and radios, a mechanical piano and transducers mounted on an array of acoustic instruments like cymbals, drums, and various stringed instruments, embodying the disembodied recorded voices in a physical electroacoustic orchestra that blurs the line between the electric and acoustic, voice and instrument, and between music and speech.