Aeolian Fields is inspired by ventifacts—rocks smoothed and sculpted by the constant abrasion of wind-borne microparticles (such as sand) in arid environments. In places such as the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, where liquid water is almost entirely absent, these sculpted rocks sit like sentinels, austere and silent.
The cello part traces long, distant tones drawn from a ‘Spectral Aeolian’ scale, a scale derived from the harmonic series but centred on its 10th harmonic, functioning as a kind of displaced tonic, producing an unusual ‘minor-quality’ sound. Live electronics echo and refract these tones in ways that suggest geological layering, while a constant background ‘wind’ sound is formed from a slow granular time-stretch of cello bow noise.
Over the course of the piece, these harmonic and timbral details subtly accumulate and erode, allowing the music to be shaped—like the ventifacts themselves—by forces that are glacial yet inexorable.