Laura Feathers is our third profiled community member for our recent call for entries. Hailing from New York, she has been involved in What if? since late 2014, contributing to our various calls for entries. Her latest offering is a track under the artist name Magic Sun, the aptly titled Soundscape 1. Reminiscent of vintage synth work of decades past, Laura has created a soundworld that develops interesting musical ideas. Listen to her creation:

An electrician by day, Laura extends this to her free time with an electronics hobby. “My knowledge of electronics from my work overlaps with the technical side of music and with the rich history of electronic music,” she writes. “I am passionate about exploring new approaches to sound.”

Laura is currently curating her own existing works, deciding which of her soundscapes she will set to a science fiction film. She, like us, is participating in February Album Writing Month (FAWM).

“Developing infrastructure for musicians and artists is very important to me,” Laura says. With this in mind, she is coordinating a night devoted to experimental music and film, to take place in the summer.

Laura expresses her creativity through various outlets such as photography and text, and she has submitted some of her work to What if? in the past. She’s also shared with us a description of what gets her creativity going.

Laura’s compositional process relies heavily on improvisation. Her Moog synthesizers, theremin, infinity looper, guitar, and electric violin all help her build her fascinating soundscapes. She is enthusiastic about the possibilities of using electronic equipment to improvise and thus make compositional decisions: “working with loops and periodic sound gives me time to decide when to play and went to keep silent.”

You can follow Laura’s Magic Sun project on SoundCloud and on her FAWM page.

Featured image courtesy of Laura Feathers.