This sound work was proposed by Lars Fredrikson to replace a kinetic piece to be played at the Timespace Festival, organized by Jonathan Robertson at the University of Bristol in 1970. Although in the end it did not replace the original work, it was broadcast multiple times during the festival. Psychofréquences is Fredrikson’s first sound environment concept to have been taped. The piece also involved an installation protocol: it was designed to be played in quadraphonic in a dark space scattered with cushions to encourage prolonged listening. In this work of random pulses—referred to by the artist as “psychofrequencies”—and the sounds of friction, Fredrikson incorporates elements of symphonic music that create a strong contrast with the plastic vocabulary used. Gradually blurred by the latter, they lose their musical quality as they progressively merge with the work.

During the same period, Fredrikson conducted several experiments using an electroencephalogram, facilitated by the psychiatrist and poet Claude Faïn, though no direct connection could be established between these experiments and the psychofrequencies used here.

Léa Dreyer, April 2021

Translated by Timothy Stroud