Elevator Music 54: Hanna Tuulikki—spinning-in-stereo

Textile production is an inherently collaborative process, requiring many hands to gather wool, spin yarn, and weave fabric. In Scotland, where sound artist and composer Hanna Tuulikki lives, these tasks were historically performed by women, who used music to mark time and build comradery during their repetitive, labor-intensive work. Tuulikki’s spinning-in-stereo transforms a traditional Gaelic spinning song into a composition for two voices sung in the round. The core melody repeats in a hypnotic loop, spiraling from slow, low tones up to a rippling crescendo of soprano vocalizations and back down again. With its intertwined female voices, the piece encourages us to consider how the rhythms of the past echo into the present.

Feb 14 – Jul 19