Field Formations 3 - Kymatiko

Field Formations 3 represents the fruit of four years of work originating from the field recording based sound installation Reciprocal Synchrony exhibited in Athens, Greece in 2021 for the groundbreaking Reality Check exhibition. The piece was based on loops of a huge brood of chorusing cicadas which I recorded on the island of Paros in 2015. The loops were played from 12 homemade looping sound boxes strategically placed around the room. I was interested in using this field recording because of the phasing effect produced by this enormous group of cicadas. This effect is the result of the shift that occurs as the insects are moving slightly in and out of synch with each other. It is akin a sonic breathing, very different from the beats per minute of the individual insect, which is significantly higher. I was quite surprised to find the beats per minute of this phasing effect to be about 74, which coincidentally is within the normal range of the human heart. This made me consider the similarity of cicadas and neurons- and how bundles of both cicadas and neurons can create meta-frequencies that have somehow synchronized to this common BPM range. I find this fascinating. Is there some common building block of sound or frequency that links species? Knowing that brainwaves can synchronize to external stimuli and that we spend far too much time in the “flight or fight” bandwidth, the objective of Reciprocal Synchrony was to provide an immersive sound experience which through the timing of the loops and the phasing effect, could create a trajectory toward a slower bandwidth where we can relax, be more creative and responsive to our environment.

After Reciprocal Synchrony, I began to focus on taking this concept- the notion of sonic environments providing the context in which we can access beneficial and necessary cognitive states- into an album format using instrumentation. This became the Field Formations series. A version of the second and title track, Field Formations 3, was performed live at Metaphor Projects in Brooklyn, NY on March 20, 2022. A section of this track also served as the soundtrack to the collaborative video/sound installation Avaton I Adyton with Angie Drakopoulos exhibited in Reality Check 2: Inner Sanctum in 2022 in Athens, Greece.

Note on track length: the average attention span today is around 8 seconds and has been decreasing. The brain will synchronize to external stimuli but for this to occur solidly, it must be immersed for 10-15 minutes, which is why all tracks on this album hover in this range.

Finally, this album benefitted greatly from meeting with ambient electronic pioneer Steve Roach, who mentored me on upgrading my equipment and refining my compositional and recording process- a profound quickening for which I am ever grateful.

Field Formations 3 stands as a pinnacle moment on my path as a musician, composer, theoretician, and as an artist- whether visual or sonic. I truly learned more than can be told in words and grew exponentially as an artist and human being through making this album. I am thrilled to finally make it available. Put it on and do something else or lay down with headphones and immerse thyself. Music truly is the antidote for a profoundly sick world.

Daniel Hill
May 17, 2025
Long Island City, NY

Instruments: analog synthesizers, mixing board, tapes, acoustic guitar, water jug drum, shortwave radio, Tibetan singing bowl, sonic treatments, and field recordings: grey ash cicada from Paros Greece; eastern treefrog from Ohio (near Lake Erie); water sound- East River, NYC; crackling fire, crickets/night sounds from Richfield, Ohio, and spring peepers from Catskills, New York- all recorded by Daniel Hill.

All tracks composed, performed, recorded, produced, and mixed by Daniel Hill. Recorded in Long Island City, NY at The Aitherion. Cover art by Daniel Hill. Graphic design by Angie Drakopoulos. Mastering by Matt Hawkins. Thanks to the friends and family that have been listening attentively for years now. And thanks to Rene and Julian at Metaphor Projects and Dr. Kostas Prapoglou for the exhibition/performance opportunities that allowed the Field Formation series to sprout, take root, and grow- and to the thousands of enthusiastic attendees of those exhibitions.

EchoSonic Records. Daniel Hill 2025, all rights reserved.