Reid’s fourth solo release Utopia guides listeners on a sonic adventure through a queer utopia free of heteronormative gaze. "Neon lights flood labyrinthine corridors on the bounding synthscapes of Amy Reid’s “Shadow Bath” from her upcoming EP, Utopia. There’s no way to listen to this song and not get up and move." - Foxy Digitalis

For Reid- A queer electronic music producer, songwriter, vocalist, DJ, cultural organizer and visual artist- the path to creating Utopia began at an Artist Residency at SPACE Gallery in 2018. The residency was specifically for queer artists and sparked her interest in fantasizing about a queer utopia. During the residency she curated and djed a sold out queer dance party uniting the LGBTQ community of Portland, ME on the dance floor of SPACE. The sacred nature of the dancefloor as a safe space for queer commune and celebration revealed a taste of a utopian moment.

“Shadow Bath” the opening track, is an introduction to the daydream Reid sets out on, punctuated by curious synths, an energetic bass and entrancing beat building up into an anthem for night time adventurers. “Pisonia,” Utopia’s closing track, carries a heavier feeling, with melancholy dance chords and lyrics about the violent nature of the pisonia tree catching and killing birds in order to spread its seed. After all, you can’t envision what utopia is without also knowing dystopia.

Utopia is a musical journey that’s led Reid back to roots- incorporating melodic vocals with her electronic/ pop sensibilities. Her previous records- like Dome Trax (Sound As Language), and Isolated Bliss (Atlantic Rhythms)-embrace ambient soundscapes with sparse or no vocals. But on Utopia, Reid circles back to her debut project, “ Hirsute,” looking back while moving forward

towards even stronger and more grown vocals and buttery harmonies.

Tracks:

1. Shadow Bath

2. Define Your Love

3. Lost Time (Utopia)

4. Pisonia

Unearthing Queer Ecologies is an ongoing audio/ visual sound art project using biology and technology to reveal imagery and sounds of growing plantlife and ecosystems that exist beyond the scope of human eyes and ears. The title references the term Queer Ecology which scholar Catriona Sandilands describes as “recognizing that people often regard nature in terms of dualistic notions like “natural and unnatural,” “alive or not alive” or “human or not human,” when in reality, nature exists in a continuous state.” This project pays homage to this idea by sonically and visually documenting the growth of lavender, pansies and mushrooms; plants that have been deemed “queer” by culture and organisms that are “queer” in the very nature of their DNA. Using innovative technology, electrodes are attached to plants and Plantwave converts the electrical impulses from the plants into midi information. This midi information is sent into analogue and digital synthesizers thus, producing sounds. The initial video was created by generating video from sound using Max 8. The generative video aspect happening in real time was developed by artist and technologist, Mel Gross. Unearthing Queer Ecologies was invited to MEXE festival in the form of two performances in Porto and Lisbon as well as an audio visual installation at the Jardim Botanical (Botanical Gardens) of Porto, Portugal. 

This project received a USArtists International Grant to create an installation at the Botanical Gardens and to be performed at MEXE Festival at a public park in Porto and at Culturgest in Lisbon, Portugal in Spetember, 2021.  In addition to this, the project received a micro grant from BOPA as well as The Medicine Show. 

Fruiting Bodies is part of a larger series of investigations titled Unearthing Queer Ecologies; an audio/ visual sound art project using biology and technology to reveal imagery and sounds of growing plantlife and ecosystems that exist beyond the scope of human eyes and ears. The title references the term Queer Ecology which scholar Catriona Sandilands describes as “recognizing that people often regard nature in terms of dualistic notions like “natural and unnatural,” “alive or not alive” or “human or not human,” when in reality, nature exists in a continuous state.” This project pays homage to this idea by sonically and visually documenting the growth of lavender, pansies and mushrooms; plants that have been deemed “queer” by culture and organisms that are “queer” in the very nature of their DNA. 

Fruiting Bodies debuted as an installation inside of Current Space’s public windows  in Baltimore City, Maryland in April, 2021. During the opening, the sound composition was played from beneath concrete grates coming from the ground. After the opening, the piece was available on a digital platform accessible through a cellular device via QR code allowing the viewer to listen through their cell phone while viewing the projections and installation. The soundscape was composed from lavender, pansies and pink oyster mushrooms by using innovative hardware called Plantwave, which translates the electrical impulses of plants into MIDI. The projections werecreated by using Max 8 to build an audio-visualizer responding to the sound of the composition. This project received a $15,000 Ruby’s grant in October 2020 to develop and create a new body of work. In addition to this support, it also received a United States Artists International Award 
https://youtu.be/APJ_acVfk6I

Dome Trax is an imaginative, sonic journey through electronic explorations of searching for hope during isolation and the global pandemic. Created while at an artist residency in The Merriweather District in Maryland, Reid built a 25ft wide 12 ft high geodesic dome. During the residency, she explored the sounds of spaces surrounding her by taking field recordings and documenting improvisations. What sounds of the legendary venue Merriweather Post Pavilion come to life as the normal sounds of crowds and music fade away? What does it sound like to be the only person inside of a glass building during a storm? How do we find sounds of hope in a deeply devastating and disconnected time? These are the questions that Dome Trax explores, the physical and metaphysical space of the geodesic dome that encapsulates everyone’s lives during isolation. 

Album Art; Ghostnests

Link to Album

Dome Trax

Project Description: 
Future canopies is an audio-visual exploration of environmental and social ecosystems that are supportive of diverse life forms and symbiotic relationships. Through structures, sound, projections and collaged imagery, these synthetic, enclosed hybrid-habitats are built on piecing together different aspects of society, nature and physical structures that allow its inhabitants not only to exist but thrive. More specifically, Future Canopies is inspired by the liminal spaces of nature & society including: Canopies, mycelium networks & underground queer culture. This installation was created by building a 25ft long and 12ft high PVC geodesic dome, hand sewn fabric panels, a surround sound system playing original compositions and collaborative projection mapped video with Johnny Rogers. This work was created at The Merriweather District AIR in Columbia, Maryland from August-October 2020.

Artists Amy Reid and Pangelica take you on a time-traveling experience to give a literal voice to two women represented in the Walters Art Museum’s collection. Amy conjures the spirit of the goddess Amphitrite depicted in a gold-accented sculpture designed by Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié. Pangelica invokes the women entombed in the mummy depicted in the Mummy and Painted Cartonnage of an Unknown Woman composed of layers of linen and plaster. Their spectral Art Sound Now performance, Immortal Voices focuses on themes of healing and destruction through ambient sound and performance. Art Sound Now highlights our commitment to supporting local artists and exploring new perspectives on the collection.

The collaborative soundscape and video Immortal Voices, by Amy Reid and Pangelica, begins with what sounds like a siren beckoning you toward something beautiful and unknown. A woman sings a single clear note that is then manipulated and stretched and delayed until it folds over itself. One woman singing becomes many women singing, a chorus crashing against the waves. An undercurrent of arpeggios bubble and build towards new heights.

Tied together under a single name, Immortal Voices is divided distinctly into two parts—the first by Reid, the second by Pangelica. “We both had an opportunity to explore our own individual pieces, come together to discuss our ideas, and find creative ways to connect them together,” Reid says.

Both Pangelica and Reid were attracted to the marginalization of their subjects. Amphitrite was tasked with calming her husband’s rages, and her story exists in his shadow. “It made me think of women’s role as nurturers and mothers,” Reid says. “Sometimes we do it as a labor of love… and then sometimes it’s placed on us.”

The path to creating Isolated Bliss, Reid’s debut for Atlantic Rhythms, is one that took her out to sea. Between June and October of  2019, she relocated to Monhegan, a remote island off the coast of Maine, only accessible by boat. It’s there that these tracks came to life. 

On Isolated Bliss, Amy Reid stops time and space, transporting listeners to a place existing somewhere between reality and a distant world. Each track is a kaleidoscope of rich textures, soft beats, cascading synths, and natural sounds that showcases Reid’s sharp sonic instincts and musical aura. Together, Isolated Bliss is a meditative flow of sounds and feelings that oscillates between soothing rhythms and otherworldly ambience. 

But there’s a heavy dose of naturalism that seasons Isolated Bliss that offer healing vibes. “I've always wanted to incorporate field recordings into my work instead of using found samples in order to really capture a sonic landscape of a specific place,” Reid explains. While living on Monhegan, hiking became a big part of her daily routine, providing the opportunity to record a range of field recordings—animals, birds, plant life in the forest, water. “I love what happens when combining natural with synthesized sounds; the natural sounds act as an access point to a physical place while electronic sounds take a listener to an emotional or metaphysical space,” she says. “I wanted each song to exist in both of these realms communicating a sense of place and feeling.”

Hirsute​ was Reid’s solo debut and was recognized for its vulnerable lyrics and lush soundscapes gaining acclaim on local and national platforms. Hirsute​ was named “Best Solo Debut” of 2017 by local newspaper City Paper, received radio play on WTMD, and sold out two different live performances of the project at The Crown and The Ottobar in Baltimore, Maryland.

“These songs felt very personal but, still relatable and emotive, [​Hirsute]​ is a reflection of organic, very human experiences getting tangled with outside factors out of one’s control... These sonic explorations embody experiencing chaos balanced with love and tender moments. Anxiety and serenity.

Amy Reid opens up the album ​Hirsute​ like a grand entry way into an electronic temple of meditation & reflection that reverberates like those spaces between awakened life & the pull of the unconscious from the dream world. Ideas of affection & attraction defy the gender normative nomenclatures & roles that find Reid transcending all in a levitating arrangement that expresses endearment through ambient electronic ebbs & tides of the electric oceanic currents & cycles set by solar & lunar interplays.”