World Rhythms originated as a ten-channel live improvisation in which the audience was surrounded by ten loudspeakers. The recorded sounds include volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, radio waves, geysers and pools, and tree frogs. These sounds are a physical manifestation of energies which shape us and our environment constantly, energies of which we are not always aware, but which powerfully influence and interact with the rhythms of our bodies.
"What separates her work from musique concreté is that the attention is drawn, not to the sound construction she's made, but to the universe outside our perceptual framework, no matter how sensuous the results. As you listen, reality overwhelms you. The fact makes her a more important electronic pioneer than she's yet been given credit for ." Voice- Kyle Gann, The Village Voice
Ruth Anderson i come out of your sleep
i come out of your sleep follows a tradition of sound poetry, or text-sound, begun in part by Kurt Schwitters' Ursonate and expanded by composers such as John Cage, Charles Amirkhanian, and Jackson Mac Low. The piece is based on the speech vowels in Louise Bogan's poem, Little Lobelia. The vowels are whispered and elongated; their shapes become breathed melodic arcs and tones, and that breathing becomes the core of a stylized meditation. "The music creates a space of safety. The sound can carry one to an altered state of consciousness...One can awaken from the listening feeling refreshed, as if sleep happened...." - Pauline Olilveros
"The piece is based on speech vowels in Louise Bogan's poem Little Lobelia, but you wouldn't guess it --whispered and elongated, the sounds are no longer verbal but become intertwining lines of breathing. Xenakis, for one, has produced similar sounds but not in such a finely textured treatment. Once you adjust to its wavelenth, the effect is captivating and, in the nicest way, also relaxing. - Andy Hamilton, The Wire