Ann Kroeber & Alan Splet

I Thought I Heard A Stranger

published in The Wire No.503/504, London, 2025

Excerpt

Sound design. Surface noise. Atmospheres. ASMR. Field recordings. Sound art. Imaginary soundtracks. In theory, these are channels of sonic production which can enliven, expand and redefine how music is conceptualized, recorded, audited and experienced. In practice—at a point decades beyond key developments in cinematic sound design and experiments in electro-acoustic composition and diffusion—the modish incorporation of booming thwacks and deep rumblings into self-tagged ‘dark’ music is mostly a numbing affair. The affected embrace of cine-tropes and suggestive narratives through SFX is certainly popular in many sectors of non-mainstream music. But the exponential growth in the micro genres aligning themselves with ‘cinematic’ inspiration is countered by the paucity of critical insight into how such music relates to notions of creativity and invention in the industrial/commercial practice of designing sound for a film production.

Interestingly, a record sonically ‘built’ from the original sound effects by Alan Splet and Ann Kroeber provides an opportunity for considering how one can enjoy and appreciate sound effects and their assemblage. Splet is most known as a sound designer who worked in tandem with David Lynch on his early films including Eraserhead (1977), as well as other Lynch films up to Blue Velvet (1986). Splet passed in late 1994. Kroeber maintained his and their archive of SFX, Sound Mountain. SFX company Pro Sound Effects started releasing licensed collections curated by Kroeber in 2017. To promote these collections, PSE have produced the LP I Thought I heard A Stranger—a layering and sequencing of Sound Mountain recordings, here assembled by PSE staff.

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Text © Philip Brophy. Image © PSE.