Slowfoam (they/them), based in Berlin, Germany
Madelyn Byrd’s work is rooted in hydrofeminism, neuroaesthetics, and uncanny interactions between ecology and technology. Their genre-spanning music moniker, Slowfoam, playfully and tenderly explores glitched-out, swirling soundscapes from drones, sparkling ambiance, fuzzy poetics, field recordings, and textural percussion.
In an extension of their world-building process, Slowfoam’s textural, electroacoustic productions blur lines between synthetic and organic sounds, collaborating in equal part with technology and biology. They have released music with Lillerne Tapes (Chicago), Jungle Gym Records (Los Angeles) and Mappa (Lucenec, Slovakia).
On their debut LP, Transcorporeal Portal, forthcoming on Somewhere Press, aqueous field recordings are stretched, compressed and elongated into a symphony of celestial purls, an effervescent gurgling of digitally processed organic material. In a mutated evolution from 2000’s glitch and micro-tonal experimentalism, Slowfoam’s queered ambience oozes with sensual tactility. Sounds are sequenced in intricate arrangements like branching fractals of living organisms. This process, layered and enigmatic, evokes the unfathomable processing of AI algorithms, offering prophetic glimpses inside the shimmering portal.
(Above) Slowfoam, The Pipe Factory, Glasgow, 2022, photograph by Lizzie Urquhart
(Top) Slowfoam, photograph by Abby Beatrice Quick
tim@somewhere.press