Michaela Gleave: Cosmic Time. The Sound Collectors Lab, Bandcamp

In eight interweaving tracks performed over 40 minutes, the performers explore ‘representations of time ranging from the endless circling of planetary forms, to… human breath and the fluttering heartbeats of desert mice’.1 The work ‘takes concepts of time on a cosmological scale’,2 with the creators researching different historical, musical and scientific methods of conceptualising sound, from orbital resonance to harmonic sequencing. Fortunately for this reviewer, who barely has GCSE-level knowledge on the subject, the listener does not have to understand complex scientific ideas in order to appreciate the work. What sets Cosmic Time apart from the myriad other pieces about the cosmos is its interdisciplinarity: the live performance featuring elaborate sound-making costumes, and the research into many different methods of measuring time, used as material and inspiration for the composition.