Arcane Device

Arcane Device is the recording name of musician david lee myers. After a fine arts education and many years in music, in 1987 Myers' accidental discovery of "Feedback Music" led to a new appreciation of the unseen forces underlying electronic music, and eventually saw expression in visual art as well. Visual interpretations of these forces are increasingly a focus of his work. "Though I have produced visual art since the mid 1960's and my formal education lies there, my most concentrated efforts to date have been in the field of sound art.

After a fine arts education and many years in music, in 1987 Myers' accidental discovery of "Feedback Music" led to a new appreciation of the unseen forces underlying electronic music, and eventually saw expression in visual art as well. Visual interpretations of these forces are increasingly a focus of his work.

"Though I have produced visual art since the mid 1960's and my formal education lies there, my most concentrated efforts to date have been in the field of sound art. Since 1987, I have been developing specialized circuitry and electronic systems for the production of my signature 'Feedback Music', whose original sounds claim unique sources. The outputs of electronic devices - particularly those intended to create a modification of some kind to an audio signal, such as time delays - are fed, via custom-built mixers, to their own inputs. In this way, these devices never receive signals from the 'outside world', and instead feed on a diet of their own product. A whole new function of these devices appears, bearing little relation to their intended purposes. The way I envision it, the devices are provided the opportunity to 'sing their own songs'; the resulting sounds represent nothing other than the free circulation of electrons within. In effect, these sounds come from nothing, and more than one observer has proclaimed them to arise 'from the ether'.

"From the perspective of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, which encompasses the vast majority of phenomena observable by human beings - and of course reaches far beyond it - our audible and visible bandwidths are nearly indistinguishable. This perception has led me to explore the interrelation of these two seemingly disparate worlds, and since 1991 I have striven to discover ways to translate the sounds produced by my Feedback Music into a visual form, frequently utilizing the oscilloscope as a primary tool. In 2000 and 2001, as I began to assemble a new series of Feedback Music hardware and to discover new sounds, record, and process them, it was not long before I felt the need to again translate these sounds into their visual counterparts. Using software versions of the oscilloscope, I began to capture 'time slices' of my sounds and process them through digital means. The resulting images I term 'Feedback Impressions', and are output as digital prints. Paintings of such images are a translation of the digital compositions, though executed by hand.

"Both my sound and visual works are the result of capture, selection, processing and combination. Essentially, I do not make sounds or draw pictures, but allow latent or unseen forces and processes to present themselves via simple technologies. I select the methods, set the stage, and as the phenomena emerge I of course introduce my own aesthetic judgements to the mix. Therefore the sounds and visuals which are presented are neither completely random science nor the gesture of an artist's hand, but something between the two, and I believe this to be the most effective approach toward evoking meaningful impressions of unseen worlds."

He has collaborated with musicians such as Asmus Tietchens, Kim Cascone and Tod Dockstader.