electrocd

Rapid Eye Movements

Roger Doyle

Rapid Eye Movements

  • Roger Doyle
  • Year of composition: 1978-80
  • Duration: 30:00

Human beings experience two types of sleep, which are categorised by the eye movements associated with them: REM (Rapid Eye Movement or dream sleep) and non-REM. In REM sleep, beneath the eyelids, the eyes move around just as if their owner were wide awake and watching something. The piece is constructed in eleven seamless sections, which I called: Mix 1 (overture), Beach 1, Mix 2 (at 6’49), Beach 2, Edit 1 (at 11’55), Edit 2 (this is where I placed the track split to break up the 30 minutes), Voice improvisation, Mix 3 (related to Mix 2), Bedroom 1, Mix 4 (which arrives back to the end of Beach 1), Bedroom 2. Also, woven into the piece are dozens of aural déjà vu moments, where sounds heard before re-appear in different contexts.


Rapid Eye Movements was awarded a First Mention at the 1981 Bourges competition, France.


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