An intense calling

"For this year’s Autumn Project, I was excited to have the opportunity to work with a sample collected near my original home. "“An Intense Calling” is field-recording-based piece based on a recording of cicadas and katydids in Dingman’s Ferry, PA collected by Dan Bodah. Growing up near the Delaware Water Gap on the other side in New Jersey, I was excited to think about both the feelings this recordings evoked in me, my memories of when I’ve heard the cicadas. I’ve combined this with my own recording of cicadas taken in NJ in Summer 2025 to create a conversation between the original sample and my experiences. I used additional field recordings that evoke my place-based memories, vocalizations on the lifecycle of cicadas, the idea that cicada sound can be both overwhelming and melodic, and potential conversations between broods to create the final piece. The title of this piece references both the aforementioned overwhelming experience of the cicadas and my own pull towards creating/capturing/manipulating sounds. "Additional field recordings of cicadas, frying pan percussion, and water collected by artist. Vocals performed by artist. Additional digital synthesis created in VCVRack2, track created and recorded in VCVRack2 with reverb and delay effects added to field recordings and original sample."Cicadas at Dingmans Ferry reimagined by Stephanie E. Vasko.