HOW TO BUILD THE FUTURE premiered at Lyric Center for the Arts (Virginia, MN), Sept 2022

A pre-war mining inspection film tells stories of hierarchy in gender and race, regional and national priorities, working conditions and methods, social protocol and more.

This piece began with a field recording that captures a train carrying taconite pellets adjusting its position on an elevated ore dock (CN Docks, West Duluth). Using contact microphones to record the resonance of the train through metal, I allowed this recording to dictate the composition: placing myself as composer and and instrumentalist in a supporting role. The aim is to force the ear to question our trained anthropocentric sonic focus on music and human-made instruments.

Composition, field recording / Sara Pajunen
16mm Mining Inspection Tour film, 1936 courtesy Kathryn A. Martin Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Minnesota Duluth
Mixed by Robert Soma-Lewis at Ambient Works
Thank you to Aimee Brown for her help with the archival footage