Resonant Ecologies – Swansong: A Choral Work for Voices in Transition

Voices That Do Not Belong

At MOMENTUM 13 (2025), held in Moss Church, Svanesang (Swansong) was presented as a sound installation examining the brief and vulnerable transitional phase in which a boy’s body and voice begin to change. Over a year, artists Albrechtsen, Højlund, and Juhlin recorded transitional voices in Herning Kirkes Drengekor (Herning Church Boys’ Choir), Denmark, as luminous, pure tones gave way to cracks, huskiness, and tonal shifts. The work focuses on the delicate threshold where childhood overlaps with adulthood and underscores the liminal zone of transition. These carefully arranged samples interweave vulnerability and collectivity into a sonic texture that is simultaneously corporeal and sacred. The work has a duration of 18 minutes and is presented through a multi-speaker configuration. Svanesang highlights vocal ‘imperfections’ to challenge traditional ideas of beauty, revealing new expressive potential.