We contemplate our inclination to excess and celebrate (or mourn?) the self-destructive tendencies of humanity by literally playing with our food.

Michael Pisaro-Liu’s ricefall invites listeners to luxuriate in the warm glow of sound conjured by grains of rice dropping on a variety of different surfaces. Ecological in conception, falling rice is used as a metaphor for rain; this situates the listener in a slowly evolving field of sound: a modest drizzle, a torrential downpour, and everything in between.

A collection of works both classic and recent position the listener in a variety of different sonic environments, these ranging from the real to the imaginary. Luciano Berio’s seminal Sequenza XIV and Chong Kee Yong’s wistful Endless echo from the ancient land find inspiration in foreign spaces: the former takes Kandyan drumming of Sri Lanka as a point of departure while the latter alludes to the beauty of ancient Shakuhachi music. Daniel Yiau draws from contemporary experience, with Aguardiente conjuring up the atmosphere of a night out at a local watering hole. Looking beyond the tangible in pursuit of the otherworldly, Estene Cheong’s delicately scored Ethereal Reality searches in the liminal spaces between beauty and ugliness; ordinary and extraordinary.