“Insects are fascinating and underappreciated” – An interview with Robert Schwarz

Viennese composer Robert Schwarz presents us with his new release ‘Stridulations 1-14‘ with field recordings of insect life combined with computer synthesis. This album is a continuation of themes introduced with Schwarz’s previous release, ‘Clear Cues’ (ETAT, 2022), and partly based on a 2023 composition commissioned by ORF’s Musikprotokoll. ‘Stridulations 1-14’ explores the audible characteristics of entomological communication, paying special attention to the spatio-temporal sonic patterns resulting from swarm behaviour and synchrony. With 20 years of field recording as foundational bedrock, Schwarz guides listeners through richly textured abstract sound entities that invariably request a dissociative listening state of its audience. Read the interview with Schwarz here