FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Tech

Sound Builders: Felix Thorn Turns Junk Into Incredible Musical Sculptures

In Episode 8 of Sound Buliders, we visit the ever-industrious Felix Thorn at his English countryside manor. Felix’s work blends the lines between musical instruments and dynamic sculptures.

In episode 8 of Sound Builders, we visit the ever-industrious Felix Thorn, one of our Sound Builders Contest winners, at his English countryside manor. Thorn's work blurs the lines between musical instruments and dynamic sculptures; shimmering mallets, circuitously arranged tones and beams of reflecting light create a magical seedbed, out of which our wildest dreams grow into a bargello of sound and light.

Advertisement

“The best way to describe it,” says Thorn: “I’m an artist who thinks he’s a scientist.”

Some folks at the London Sinfionetta liked his stuff enough to feature it in the British Library. When we visited him, Thorn built an instrument so complex, we're not even really sure what it is, but it looks terrifying and sounds incredible. Thorn guides us down a twisting path lit by beacons of his percussive machines. Along the way, we experience a bracing new expression of imagination.

See more Sound Builders episodes, stay tuned for videos of our Sound Builders contest winners, and if you missed your chance to win the crisp $1000 we gave away, keep your eyes peeled for future chances to win.