Soft Landing is an audiovisual collective devoted to long-form improvisation. Drawing on the philosophy of Deep Listening, the ensemble creates immersive environments of gradually transforming light and sound. This durational, site-specific format fosters the emergence of fascinating shapes from an organic interplay of synthesizers, woodwinds, voice, percussion, electronics, and live visuals. Whenever possible, performances occur in environments where audience participants may spend the night, allowing the event to become a container for meditative, restorative experience as the music continues until dawn.
Soft Landing began in 2023 as an extension of the practice of Emily Pothast and David Golightly of Hair and Space Museum, who enlisted a number of core collaborators to expand on their shimmering cosmic minimalism. Jonathan James Carr (S’hells Gate, Physm Industrial) and Geoff Saba (Forest Floor, Itinerant Home) bring vast knowledge of sound design and audio production to their work as improvisers, adding layers of subtle complexity to the mix. Zekarias Musele Thompson and Joshua Wismans have a rich collaborative history as improvisers and event producers in their own right (Peaces, Musele Project, Working Name Studios); here, their avant-jazz radiance brings the music to resplendent heights and profound depths. Performances also depend on the ensemble’s offstage members: world-class audio engineer Leonard Blanche (Meyer Sound, Audium) who painstakingly installs the sound system and performs live sound spatialization, and multimedia artist Christopher Farstad (5k Candle), who uses lights, projectors, and digital-analog interfaces to create a resplendent visual environment that complements and enhances the sonic journey.
