Rise & Shine is the result of an improvisation session in the morning, when ears are fresh and most sensitive to stimuli. Using a set of graphic index cards, designed by Boston-based movement artist Joe Burgio, as compositional material to guide their improvisation, Mouchous and Cornell convened in the live broadcast studio of CKUT 90.3FM in Montreal to lay the groundwork for the piece.

The piece responds to the clarity of local signals in Montreal that are obscured in areas directly adjacent to the main radio tower transmitter site atop Mount-Royal. The areas situated in the shadow of the mountain, where there are no sight-lines to the tower, have poor reception because the signal must pass though the ground to reach the receivers. The signal is only received in mono and occasionally cuts out intermittently for indeterminate periods of time.

Rise & Shine begins with undulations, like the intermittent signals in the mountain’s shadow; a rising and falling, an ebb and flow of tones meditatively sweeping through the frequency range that stretch the spectrum that is most receptive to the combination of signals. Once the space is carved out, the piece unfolds at a languorous pace, evocative of a hot summer night when the air is thick and sleep comes in waves carrying episodic dreams linked together by a common thread.
i remember the shimmering waves of Maine
disease : diamonds exploding inside your body
it may have to do with turning the radio dial …
give me a little space to breathe
i will start making some soup
trapped in a box
microscope inside the lungs
at night
-Reprinted from Radius