after making several attempts to sonically convey the history of the american west, a new subject became clear: a sonic exploration into the poisoning of the earth due to atomic testing and the heavy defense industries that surround it. the 'cobalt variations' trilogy attempts to make sense of this. the records can be listened to in sequence or taken individually.

the music program is designed to extract you from real time, and allow you to visit the american west and south pacific across various stages of destruction to the natural environment, as their resident populations are endangered through direct governmental actions.

cobalt variations one : trinity

our journey begins on 16.7.45, the date of the first atomic test within the continental united states, truly a day that lives in infamy forever. facilitated at the alamogordo test site, the detonation of the first major nuclear weapon within the united states border should be considered the starting moment of the arms race that has consumed military thinking ever since. designed at the los alamos national laboratories, these initial forays into nuclear armament were a critical development, eventually turning the tide in the pacific theater of war.

this recording explores the heat hazed landscape of the american southwest, in the days leading up to the detonation of these early prototype nuclear weapons, and the days immediately after, as the fallout drifts across the desert floor.

the tightly coiled auditory violence of ‘los alamos’, featuring the heavily processed guitar work of graham vile (the valley of wolves), sets the stage of anticipation as the government develops a weapon to end civilization altogether. embracing a climactic shoegaze approach to this concept, the piece literally melts down across it’s duration.

‘alamogordo’ presents a more foreboding soundstage, including field recordings made in government facilities at holloman air force base, and white sands. while it lacks the visceral gut wrenching distortion of ‘los alamos’, it compensates by a saturated feeling of dread, the knowledge that our weapons of mass destruction will be deployed here at the white sands, and in the pacific theater.