Michael Prime

The purpose of Domestic Science is to let the listener rediscover the sound environment of a household. Michael Prime works with regular appliances, amplifying and manipulating the sound they produce in order to construct highly suggestive pieces: ones that sound alien. Anyone scared by these pieces should beware of their refrigerator! The sound source for "Gradient" is an electric radiator. The piece is very quiet, with occasional bubbles of sound appearing -- a very out of this world sonic exploration. "Fusilli" uses a gas hob with pasta cooking in water. The hissing of the gas contrasts with the heavily treated bubbling of the water in a piece that is somewhere between Pierre Henry's musique concrète and Pink Floyd's "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast." "Interglacial" takes the listener inside a refrigerator; most of the piece sounds like a windy cavern with water drops falling from stalactites. Finally, a washing machine served as the basis for "Lint." Although at times a little dry, Prime's experiments are eye-openers: your appliances won't look so "normal" anymore.