For the physical model in the left channel, I used ChucK's BandedWG, which I ran through reverb, echo, and gain. For the sample playback, I recorded my reading of the poem "A Point West of San Bernardino (II)," which talks about the fear of strip malls invading San Bernardino. (The poem is by Juan Delgado, and it comes from the book Vital Signs, published by Heyday, 2013. In the code, I called the sample "Hwk3VitalSigns.wav.") I chopped up the poem in ChucK to create a more paranoid, ominous feel to the words. My goal was to evoke the feeling of being trapped in urban sprawl. The piece has 11 parts. Depending on the part of the piece, the instruments play independently, play in sync, or play in isolation.
By Emmerich Anklam, 3 November 2013.