I am building spaceship engines.

New Canada Engines is a spinoff album from Gravity Wing, my novel and soundtrack set on the planet of New Canada. In the story, NCE a company that builds spaceship engines. Founded by a pioneering couple on this new world, they company makes huge strides in innovation, eventually dominating the spaceship engine market.

For FAWM 2017 I am testing and building spaceship engines through ambient glitch soundscapes. Each track represents an engine built by NCE. The next track is a new layer or rework, building on and extrapolating from the previous piece, just as if each piece were a spaceship engine: built, test-flown, reworked, improved.

NCE 1 – Prototype

NCE 1 is an effective basic engine, but it has not been tested on a spaceship yet. But soon, the next build will be ready and flight tests will be carried out.

NCE 2 – DRGN

“Some people referred to the DRGNs as the dragons . . . that generation was designed to be terrifically strong.”
Serge, to Isabel, in Gravity Wing

NCE 2 is the first proper build.

NCE 3 – Reality

NCE 3 is the second proper build. Flight tests are being carried out and developments are moving along, though not always in desired directions. Personal problems from the team begin to intrude but this does not stop the creators from engineering art.

I composed this track based on NCE 2 – DRGN. First I took NCE 1 – Prototype, made up of singing airplane engine samples. To this I added touches of synths, acoustic viola harmonics, more bitcrusher, and digital strings subtly quoting fragments of Serge’s Song (vimeo.com/clioem/serge), a classical piece that is an essential part of the Gravity Wing soundtrack, at which point NCE 2 was born. For the third iteration, I added a movement from my 2011/2012 composition Monodrama of the Mechanical Doll for cello and actress. Here I just used the solo cello, in a live-recorded concert excerpt from VIII. Reality may be harsh or sweet, depending on the context. The cellist was Liina Leijala.

Thus, NCE 3 is the most “life-infused” of the engines so far. Much has happened, both good and bad. Experience informs the reality of the founders of New Canada Engines.

At the premiere performance of “Monodrama of the Mechanical Doll” in Nikki Bogart Gallery Vienna, Shakespearian actress Brigitte Pekarek created the role of the Doll.

More Engines will follow soon . . .