Sarah Belle Reid: Composing in the Echoes of Time

Unspooling the Thread: Beginnings in 2019

The story of ‘Times Undoing & Progress’ does not begin with a single spark but with a slow gathering of distant thunder, echoing from 2019 and even earlier, in the realm of dreams. Sarah Belle Reid’s compositional journey is painted in blurred lines and spectral impressions, where ideas drifted long before they took form. Early sketches—some formal, some pictographic—trace the architecture of an opera where timelines tangle and narrative arcs become shimmering, fractal shapes.

Reid’s process blooms across years, not as a straight line but as a constellation of sketches and evolving concepts. The opera’s structure is at once deliberate and elusive, a reflection of its cosmic caretakers and the temporal anomalies they encounter. This is music that remembers itself, folding memories and future echoes into a single, resounding continuum.

Sonic Alchemy: Modular Synths and Everyday Magic

In Reid’s hands, the studio is a cabinet of curiosities—modular synths hum alongside children’s toys, kitchen utensils, and found objects, each transformed into sonic ghosts. The compositional process is playful yet intentional, blending the magnetic resonance of electronics with the tactile immediacy of household sound-makers. Notation itself morphs: pictographic scores coexist with traditional lines, each chosen for its ability to capture fleeting gestures and ephemeral textures.

The result is a landscape where boundaries between instrument and environment dissolve. Modular systems do not merely generate tones; they breathe, they shimmer, they fracture light. Everyday objects become conduits for narrative, their resonance woven into the opera’s fabric. Reid’s process invites us to listen with new ears, to find melody in the mundane and magic in the mechanical.

Blueprints of Infinity: Organizing Chaos in Ableton

As the opera’s universe expands, the need for meticulous structure becomes its own kind of artistry. Reid ushers us behind the curtain of her Ableton sessions, where sprawling arrays of MIDI, samples, and fixed media interlock like the gears of a celestial clock. The work is painstaking—tempo maps, click tracks, checklists for every detail—but within this architecture, the music’s spirit is allowed to roam free.

This is the paradox of grand projects: the more cosmic their scale, the greater the demand for grounded, granular planning. Reid’s approach turns organization into a form of creative ritual, a scaffolding for improvisation and serendipity. The careful preparation is not overkill but an invitation to let the music unfold, scene by scene, without fear of losing the thread. In this way, structure becomes the vessel for sonic exploration, not its limit.

The Bathroom Booth: Innovation in the Everyday

Sometimes, the heart of a record is not a cathedral but a tiled sanctuary: a bathroom transformed into a recording booth. When the world outside buzzes with cicadas and distant sirens, creativity finds shelter wherever it can. Reid’s solution is both practical and poetic—sound dampening blankets draped on walls, carpets on floors, foam on ceilings—a cocoon woven from necessity and invention.

This makeshift booth becomes a crucible for acoustic alchemy. Horns, voices, and other organic timbres are captured in a space once meant for solitude, now reborn as a chamber of echoes and resonance. The transformation reminds us that sonic magic often thrives in unlikely places, and that the spirit of experimentation is as vital as any piece of gear. The tactile adjustments, the attention to detail—these are acts of devotion to the music’s unfolding story.

Gathering Voices: The Opera’s Living Archive

As the video closes, Reid opens her archive—inviting us to witness not just the solitary act of composition, but the chorus of collaborators and supporters who shape the opera’s journey. Behind-the-scenes footage, vignettes from barn studios and living rooms, and the laughter of fellow musicians all become threads in the opera’s tapestry. The project is communal, a living document of shared discovery and persistent wonder.

Future videos promise deeper glimpses: recording sessions with vocalists and percussionists, winter treks to distant studios, and the ongoing interplay between planning and improvisation. Yet even now, the spirit of Times Undoing & Progress is present—a magnetic field of curiosity, connection, and creative risk. Some details, some sonic ghosts, are best felt in the video itself, drifting just beyond the reach of words.