In the spring of 2021, I did an artist-in-residency with Nevesoma for Uncool in Poschiavo (CH). Nevesoma is a very talented singer/songwriter from Moscow. In one and a half week we created an audio-visual performance together based on her songs. We did the performance for a selected audience (due to COVID19 regulations) in Poschiavo .
About
Uncool provided us with a very nice house with a rehearsal room in the Poschiavo valley. A beautiful environment to work.
Nevesoma has a poetic, harmonic, natural style, so I looked for a way to visualise her music in a similar way. And in a way that would make it obvious for the audience that the visuals were created live.
The set-up
For each song I looked for real-time visuals (so called ISF shaders) that fitted the theme of the song and that have a clear connection with nature and look realistic. I then used Nevesoma’s voice to control these visuals live together with me (using a MIDI controller).
The sound of Nevesoma’s voice is fed into Ableton Live’s Envelope Follower. The Envelope Follower translates the loudness of her vocals into a signal that is send to EboSuite’s ISF plug-in. For each song the ISF plug-in is loaded with different visual algorithms (ISF shaders). Some parameters of these algorithms are connected to Nevesoma’s voice. This way she controls how fantasy animals fly, how fishes swim, water flows, a flower grows, lights dance around, mountains grow.
Her voice controls nature and determines the timing and flow of this artistic visual world.
The performance
Mystery. In this song Nevesoma’s voice controls the flapping wings of the fishes. For this song I used the Manta Ray shader created by dakrunch in EboSuite’s ISF plug-in.
I start dreaming. In this song Nevesoma’s voice controls the size and floating style of the fantasy animals. For this song I used the Angels created by iq in EboSuite’s ISF plug-in.
New day. In this song Nevesoma’s voice controls the wind blowing away the dandelion seeds For this song I used EboSuite’s eSampler and eFX-ISF plug-ins.
I am inspired. In this song Nevesoma’s voice controls the wave in the sea and the light underwater. For this song I used the Water shader created by David Lublin and the Beneath the Sea shader created by zel in EboSuite’s ISF plug-in.
Much litter in my head. In this song Nevesoma’s voice doesn’t control the visuals, but I play with visuals around her head. For this song I used EboSuite’s eSampler and the eFX-ISF plug-ins.
I fall in love. In this song Nevesoma’s voice controls the mountains. For this song I used the Fireworld shader created by iq in EboSuite’s ISF plug-in.
Shine. In this song Nevesoma’s voice controls the little flower and the light effects. For this song I used the Mystic Flower shader created by rigel in EboSuite’s ISF plug-in.
I am a fairy. In this song Nevesoma’s voice controls the shape of the dancing lights. The beat controls the colour and size of the dancing lights. The bass drum turns the lights red and the snaredrum turns them blue. For this song I used the Plasma Particles shader created by frontside in EboSuite’s ISF plug-in.
Silent night. In this song Nevesoma’s voice controls the stars and shape of the galaxy. For this song I used the Galaxy of the Universe shader created by FabriceNeyret2 in EboSuite’s ISF plug-in.
I followed the sun. In this song Nevesoma’s voice controls the earth’s surface and the flying particles in space. For this song I used the Star Nest shader created by Kali and Andromeda’s Jewel shader created by wyatt in EboSuite’s ISF plug-in.