The connection between electronic music and outer space has a long and delightful history. But Kerrith Livengood’s fantastical voyage might be the first to reference Japanese anime cartoons, galactic girl power, and ambient character portraits.

"In the Name of the MOON” – born from the fusion of electronic soundscapes and the iconic anime series "Sailor Moon" – invites listeners to embark on a far-out journey of sonic transformation. “It began when I imagined an ever-changing but static field of harmonies and pulses, intertwined with each other, and surrounding listeners like a galaxy of sounds. I wanted listeners to be able to shape this galaxy of sound by adding and removing patterns freely, and so I created the first piece "sparkling wide pressure" as an interactive piece, complete with graphical interface, in the programming language and environment SuperCollider.”

"Sailor Moon" is one of the original "magic girl" stories that became popular in Japanese media in the mid-1990s. The main characters shout catchphrases to transform from ordinary schoolgirls into superheroes who fight alien monsters, drawing on the cosmic power of their respective planets. Each girl has her own elements and style, as well as distinct battle cries. "In the name of the moon, allow me to punish you with love!" says Sailor Venus (the charismatic one), for instance, at the end of her transformation sequence.

“I find it to be soothing background TV when I'm working out or lying in bed with the flu. So it makes sense (to me, at least) to connect the show to pattern-based electronic music. Each of these "ambient character portraits" is full of shifting, intricate patterns of interwoven sounds. Yet each piece is balanced in content, maintaining equilibrium like bodies in the solar system.

“Looking back, I think these pieces have always been about being able to choose to transform. In the show, the girls could choose to transform into their hero forms at any time, bringing the narrative of the show to a halt (sometimes for several minutes!) while the characters' bodies were celebrated with elaborate cosmic visuals. Likewise, the installation versions of these pieces gave listeners the power to transform the overall soundscape at will. This album, ironically, has given me the opportunity to transform these pieces into a new format, with the sounds now fixed in their ideal configurations.”

Kerrith Livengood’s works have been performed at festivals such as the SEAMUS Conference, KISS 2018, ACO’s SONiC Festival, June in Buffalo, and Bargemusic. She has written works for the JACK Quartet, Third Angle Ensemble, Duo Cortona, Altered Sound Duo, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Beattie and pianist Adam Marks, soprano Amy Petrongelli, and the h2 Quartet. Her music features complex grooves, lyricism, noise, and humor. She is also a flutist, drummer, technologist, and improviser, who performs collaborative and experimental works created by herself and others. She received her doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, and previously taught theory and composition at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). Kerrith is also Assistant Director of the New Music On The Point Festival, a summer festival for young composers and performers.