Hare Shiva - Autorickshaw

While I listened to Me the Machine, and especially as I watched Imogen Heap's performance of it, I was drawn to the ways she would modify the sound of her voice, pitch shifting here and adding reverb there. This reminded me of the music of Autorickshaw.

I first heard Hare Shiva when Autorickshaw performed it at a noon-hour concert at Conrad Grebel University College. Though there were only three musicians, by using live sequencing software they achieved a multi-layered sound quite similar to that of the recordings on their album. The effect was quite engaging, and I spent much of the performance trying to relate the sounds coming from the laptop to their original, acoustic sources.

The melody of Hare Shiva has quite a striking effect. In the first verse, a phrase rises upwards (0:43) and then descends by a half step, the final note bright and glinting. When the verse is repeated, we hear the same rising gesture (1:12), but this time the melody descends by a whole step, the final note now dark and brooding. What a difference a semitone can make!


Hare Shiva was suggested by Jacob in response to Imogen Heap's Me the Machine.

It reminded Evy of Andy McKee's Drifting.

It reminded Caleb of Blackpink's Crazy Over You.