Ben Weirich & I created a 10min soundtrack loop to accompany the visual artworks of Andrea Thurber & her team in the Ruptured Time room at Meow Wolf Denver, Convergence Station. In this piece, we explore feelings of nostalgia and our relationship to memories, fractured memories, and memory loss. Once we were clear on the direction and overall feel of the piece, we sat down to start recording and things came flowing out. We recorded percussion using found objects in our space at Moon Magnet studios, tracking layers of polyrhythms that could be mixed and matched to create different grooves and textures. We searched for samples of footsteps, clocks, water - anything that could be used percussively and connect the listener to nostalgic memories. After we put together many different beats, Ben Weirich composed synth parts to encompass a large envelope of feeling. His goal was to keep the piece fairly happy sounding, while moving through events that remind us of sadness, melancholy, or fear. We were inspired further by the audio recordings from Andrea’s family video, which she has incorporated into the visual elements of the room. With Andrea’s permission, we were able to use sound clips from the videos, with two generations of kids experiencing life’s joys in the way only kids can. Once we had the clips placed, we added samples of morning birds, crickets, fireworks, wind, and thunderstorms. This gave our looping soundscape the feeling of a summer day’s cycle. We hope that those who hear our sound piece, paired with the surrounding visual/ interactive artwork, will experience nostalgia in a new way, whether it be through sound, touch, taste, smell, or visual cues. We also hope to bring awareness to how nostalgia may be experienced by someone who’s memories are fractured or difficult to access. Listen to the piece here and check out the installation it was made for here.