Testing the Waters is a long-form electroacoustic composition unfolding through episodic movements that together trace a sonic dérive.
Field recordings intermingle with instrumental and electronic passages, shaped through studio processes into a continually shifting terrain. Originally composed in Berlin in the spring of 2023 as a commission for WDR 3 Radio in Cologne, the work is threaded throughout by the recurring presence of water—trickling, flowing, resonating, and transforming. As both material and metaphor, water lends the piece its title, its recurring presence quietly shaping the work's sense of movement, permeability, and drift.
Crys Cole (born 1976) is a Canadian sound
artist working in composition, performance
and sound installation. Generating subtle and imperfect sounds through
haptic gestures and seemingly mundane materials, she creates texturally
nuanced works that continuously retune the ear. Cole has performed in
Canada, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, the USA, UK and throughout
Europe. She has ongoing collaborations with
Oren Ambarchi and with
James Rushford (under the name Ora Clementi). She has also worked with Francis
Plagne,
Leif Elggren, Tetuzi Akiyama,
Seiji Morimoto, Jessika Kenney,
David Rosenboom,
Annea Lockwood, Keith
Rowe, Lance Austin Olsen, Jamie Drouin, Mathieu Ruhlmann, David Behrman,
Tim Olive and many more. Cole's work has been published on labels
Black Truffle, Penultimate Press, Ultra Eczema, caduc, Bocian, Another Timbre
and Infrequency editions. With guest appearances published on Touch and
MeGO. She has exhibited her work in Canada, Russia, Czech Republic,
Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Thailand.
