This album is created from air quality data. An instrument I built harvests air quality data from the Purple Air Monitor Network and uses that to make songs. The instrument compares air quality from the two monitors to create ambient musical expressions. The further apart the air quality is, and the worse the air quality is, the darker and more chaotic the music becomes.
I used chord progressions and basic melodies created by the instrument in these songs. I then added my own drums, bass, and melodies to provide depth and texture to the songs. I made every effort to maintain the feeling of the original recordings.
You can play with the instrument yourself and learn more about it at
twoneighborhoods.xyz.
This project aims to raise awareness of inequities in air quality between neighborhoods by turning air pollution into music.
One of the greatest determiners of your health is your zip code. Air pollution is far higher in poor neighborhoods than nearby affluent neighborhoods. Often, this is due to the proximity to highways, factories, oil refineries, and other industrial sources. Neighborhoods with high levels of air pollution are also disproportionally lived in by People of Color, leading to a form of aerosolized racism. Often, these communities are forced to shoulder the impacts of pollution, but see little of the economic benefits from the creation of these pollutants.
The long term health impacts of these disparities are vast. Neighborhoods with lower air quality see higher rates of cancer and respiratory illnesses like asthma. Those who live in neighborhoods with high levels of air pollution have an average lifespan 4 years shorter than their luckier neighbors. In the United States alone, over 100,000 people die each year due to air pollution.
Air pollution can also have immediate health impacts. On days when fine particle concentrations increase in a community, more people die from heart attacks and respiratory problems.
The music created here changes based on the differences in air quality between the two selected neighborhoods, becoming more chaotic and dark when there are vast differences in air quality, and calmer and more relaxing when differences are smaller. Worse air quality in the two neighborhoods will distort the music and cause "errors" to occur in the melody. Better air quality will minimize distortion and reduce errors. The further apart the two neighborhoods are, the more distant the music will sound.
released October 26, 2020
All songs written and recorded by Diegetic.
This album and the web application were funded by a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council.