Julie Herndon

From Nothing (2022–2025)

for any instrument and electronics
available as stereo or 9.1.6 fixed media track
Composed, performed, and recorded by Julie Herndon, Los Osos, CA
Mixed at I-Park Artist Residency, East Haddam, CT

Program Note:

I composed this piece as a means of self-soothing during times of personal and global anxiety. I found myself playing long, slow melodies on the harmonium, sending them through looping, delays, and distortion so that I could immerse myself in the sounds. As I listened closer, I began to notice the qualities of my environment seeping through: the wind in the trees outside my window, the cicadas singing seamlessly alongside the electronics. I sampled these sounds and added them in translucent layers. As the sounds accumulated, a world began to emerge from nothing.