I wrote lumières noires for Karin Hellqvist between September 2011 and my finishing it in Darmstadt on 24 July 2012. The piece is the fourth of six works for solo instrument and computer. In these pieces I let the electronic part be a more or less distorted shadow of the instrumental part, presenting several electroacoustic versions of the same line that the solo instrument is working on. I have a fascination for these very small instrumental sounds that I am using, and to put them under strong magnification. This then leads me to use the same kind of material for the electroacoustic part which sources are basically “silence”, that is the very small and insignificant in-between sounds of everyday life.

Joakim Sandgren