Composer Notes:

YouTube is an algorithmic abyss. The majority of its content remains unseen and unheard. What surfaces from that digital pit is shaped by algorithmic curation (i.e., the process of selecting, promoting, and recommending media). In filtering its vast and ever-expanding catalogue, YouTube treats most of its content as noise. Drawing from Pauline Oliveros’ deep listening and Daniel Lopatin’s sampling philosophy, I sought out this noise. I listened closely.

To bypass this algorithmic curation, I actively searched YouTube for videos with very low view counts. From that search, I selected a single upload which became the inspiration for A Siren’s Song. The piece shows how algorithmically obscured audiovisual media can be reworked into music through close listening and transformation.

A Siren’s Song is derived from an upload of a drag queen’s lip-sync. She performs a mashup of pop songs and reality TV clips (typical of drag performances), punctuated by blood-curdling screams. I was drawn to that noise. I was also enticed by the video’s low quality and the sense of absence in the club: she is seemingly performing to an empty room—shrouded in red light. The video, recorded at a venue in Dublin, had fewer than 10 views when I interacted with it.

A Siren’s Song samples, disassembles, and repositions this uploaded drag performance. I isolated specific sounds—through close listening—and created musical material through filtering, EQ, and distortion, teasing out latent details and pitches from the source. I also use the visual elements of the upload as compositional material, transforming image into musical gestures through a series of image-to-MIDI experiments. This attention to the visual is my unique contribution to sampling practice.

A Siren’s Song turns an algorithmically obscured drag performance into a space of listening, musical transformation, and performance. I’m grateful for the experience that her performance has given me, and I continue to listen closely: I’m still drawn to the noise—hailing from YouTube’s abyss—that A Siren’s Song draws to the surface.