The advent of found sound opened the world’s ears to everyday noises as music. Whether harnessing the clicks and flurries of nature or venturing into a sarcophagus for the hollow tones of skulls and bones, the process literally transforms an environment into its rhythmic and melodic equivalent. Eric Wahlforss’ business is sound—how it’s made, found, and shared.As the founder and CTO of Soundcloud, Wahlforss enabled musicians everywhere to present their music to the world in a package that frames the visual manifestation of audio as its centerpiece. Alongside this noble endeavor is Wahlforss’ own music (released under the moniker Forss), the most recent of which embraces the sound found in a place rarely associated with music production: church.Though it’s not a religious project, Ecclesia shows a reverence for the tradition of religious music that Forss recalls from his childhood, the ethereal sounds of worship and the incidental noises that occur in the same space. The songs have two main components: the melodies are arrangements of recorded choral, organ, and string sounds, and the percussion is built from the sounds of stone, metal, and wooden objects.Adding a visual element to Ecclesia is an iPad app (above) that displays a morphing visualization, cycling through religious symbology and architecture in various patterns, reflecting the mood and feel of the music at any given moment.We caught up with Forss to find out what inspired Ecclesia and how the visual element augments the experience of this thematic work.The Creators Project: What is it about church music, or the environment of a church that inspires you?
Eric Wahlforss: One of my earliest memories is of myself watching my mother practice with her choir in a 12th century church outside Stockholm. I'm just able to peek over the creaking wooden benches to see my mother conduct. As I was listening, I remember a mixture of boredom—I was eager to go out and play—and at the same time a wonderful sensation filling me inside.Years later, through the works of some contemporary Scandinavian choir music composers, I rediscovered choir music again and realized it's the form of music which is by far the strongest and most emotional to me. The feeling when walking into a large church or cathedral is one of awe. The same goes for a church organ—it's a demonstration of power! That said, I must admit I generally don't enjoy organ music as much as choir. But in some works, like Duruflé's requiem, choirs, strings, and organ come together in a masterful harmony that ultimately inspired me to pick that trinity as the instrumentation for the album. From an electronic music creator's point of view, this was a formidable challenge! How to make choirs, church organs, and strings work together in a piece of modern electronic music?From which church(es) did you sample musical and congregation audio for your compositions?
From churches in Scandinavia and Germany.As far as sampling percussive sounds from the church environment as well, what objects made for the best bass drums? Snares? Hi Hats?
If you listen carefully, you can hear a multitude of great percussive sounds in a church. It could be things like a hymn book or keys falling onto a church bench, footsteps on the stone floor, coughs from the congregation, etc, etc. It's all drenched in this awe-inspiring and authentic reverb. Sometimes I recorded for hours and ended up using only a second of audio.How does the visual element of the iPad app relate to the theme of the music? Is it reflective of church architecture?
The visuals embody the music. Each shape, color, and illustration has a musical counterpart, and vice versa. You need to watch and listen carefully to uncover those relationships.What are some reactions you've gotten to this concept?
Reactions are surprisingly positive. I would have thought a lot of people would have a problem with all the connotations and the instrumentation. Our society today is so secular that people can't relate to many aspects of our largely Christian tradition. Some people think I'm deeply religious, and disqualify the Ecclesia project based on that. This, however, is not the case. I'm just a lover of church music, which is a very different thing.Is there another environment that you would like to theme a future work around in the same way?
I'm a project person. Sometimes ideas come into my head that I can't shake. Ecclesia was such an idea. Right now I can't imagine any other environment that could inspire me to do something similar… but then again, who knows!Download the app here.Below, a few screengrabs of the app.@ImYourKid
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Eric Wahlforss: One of my earliest memories is of myself watching my mother practice with her choir in a 12th century church outside Stockholm. I'm just able to peek over the creaking wooden benches to see my mother conduct. As I was listening, I remember a mixture of boredom—I was eager to go out and play—and at the same time a wonderful sensation filling me inside.Years later, through the works of some contemporary Scandinavian choir music composers, I rediscovered choir music again and realized it's the form of music which is by far the strongest and most emotional to me. The feeling when walking into a large church or cathedral is one of awe. The same goes for a church organ—it's a demonstration of power! That said, I must admit I generally don't enjoy organ music as much as choir. But in some works, like Duruflé's requiem, choirs, strings, and organ come together in a masterful harmony that ultimately inspired me to pick that trinity as the instrumentation for the album. From an electronic music creator's point of view, this was a formidable challenge! How to make choirs, church organs, and strings work together in a piece of modern electronic music?
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From churches in Scandinavia and Germany.As far as sampling percussive sounds from the church environment as well, what objects made for the best bass drums? Snares? Hi Hats?
If you listen carefully, you can hear a multitude of great percussive sounds in a church. It could be things like a hymn book or keys falling onto a church bench, footsteps on the stone floor, coughs from the congregation, etc, etc. It's all drenched in this awe-inspiring and authentic reverb. Sometimes I recorded for hours and ended up using only a second of audio.How does the visual element of the iPad app relate to the theme of the music? Is it reflective of church architecture?
The visuals embody the music. Each shape, color, and illustration has a musical counterpart, and vice versa. You need to watch and listen carefully to uncover those relationships.What are some reactions you've gotten to this concept?
Reactions are surprisingly positive. I would have thought a lot of people would have a problem with all the connotations and the instrumentation. Our society today is so secular that people can't relate to many aspects of our largely Christian tradition. Some people think I'm deeply religious, and disqualify the Ecclesia project based on that. This, however, is not the case. I'm just a lover of church music, which is a very different thing.Is there another environment that you would like to theme a future work around in the same way?
I'm a project person. Sometimes ideas come into my head that I can't shake. Ecclesia was such an idea. Right now I can't imagine any other environment that could inspire me to do something similar… but then again, who knows!Download the app here.Below, a few screengrabs of the app.@ImYourKid