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Weston Olencki<\/a> is a U.S.-born, Berlin-based musician and composer whose work is fundamentally concerned with the cultural history of instruments and music making. In a recent interview with Talkhouse<\/a>, Weston speaks to growing up in South Carolina and marching for Drum Corps International, only to later recognize it as a \u201cmusical pantomime of imperial battlefield movements.\u201d Their essay \u201cFor Instruments<\/a>\u201d further reflects on their upbringing and challenges the art-world attitude that views \u201ccities as the only places for progress.\u201d Across a growing discography, their work investigates the usage and assumptions around instruments \u2014 and the cultural practices that surround music performance across genres.<\/p>\n Their new album, when the great fires were lit on the other side of the ocean<\/em> (out Sept. 30 via Sweet Wreath\/TAK Editions), explores the philosophical, spiritual, and cultural beliefs surrounding the advent of electricity. The collaborative project with TAK Ensemble is the culmination of a deep research process, creating soundscapes that mimic, respond to, or directly incorporate electricity itself.<\/p>\n \u201cseven kilometers upriver from Suspension Bridge\u201d begins with an outdoor field recording of river noises and wildlife, lasting almost a minute before pitched percussion, bowed vibraphones, gleaming and tinkling metallic noises enter. Woodwinds creak and drone, mimicking a 60hz ground hum, which eventually takes over the soundscape. This electric hum continues into the next track, \u201c\u2018An Crithir\u2019, or \u2018The Spark\u2019 (\u2026 a bhfoghar gotha graineamhuil le mhead an eigin arabih Fiacha \u2026),\u201d an Irish folktune translated by Dylan Kerr. Soprano Charlotte Mundy is at first accompanied by a distant choir of voices, but when the song escalates in emotional intensity, the entire ensemble creates a blistering wall of noise, seemingly blooming from the electric noise that opened the track.<\/p>\n In advance of the album release, we asked Weston five questions about how they integrate research into their artistic practice.<\/p>\n