Soundtracks for Eight Landscapes is a travelogue written in retrospect. Rendered visually in paint and sonically in resonant synth chirps, Rock Hyrax strains to evoke visions of the places he’s visited over the past eight six years. Strolling through this digital installation, one feels as if they have been roused by their clock radio, left with the residue of a particularly scenic dream sticking like condensation to the subconscious: each of these eight panoramic views displayed on Soundcloud’s gallery walls more closely resemble a third generation Xerox copy’s bleary smudges than the photograph that was originally scanned.
What’s most compelling about this record is the way it translates visual and tactile stimuli into traditional New-Age composition. The view from the peak of a French burial mound becomes a vertiginous swirl of nauseous drones, tinny steel drum tones signifying the village houses that float in verdant view like croutons in split-pea soup. A late-night drive in New England swells with the unnerving magic of a family sci-fi film from the early 80s. Cliffs on the Californian coastline are sifted through a Yung Sherman-esque cloud-rap sieve.
Virtual reality hasn’t quite given us the capacity to see the world in its fully immersive beauty, but Rock Hyrax’s electronic can help us pass the time until then. Soundtracks… is filled with the frightening wonder that might be sparked by a VHS copy of DK Vision’s Amazing Animals, fueled by the mystical idealism of James Ferraro’s Human Story 3.
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