The Dark Forest

Our heroes venture first of all into the Dark Forest, a foreboding space that leads them to the gate of Hell – and two artists have built us a dark forest in sound to explore. First up is Angela Winter, whose piece is titled “Selva oscura, amor mi mosse”

“‘Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.’

“Dante has lost his way and finds himself wandering through an ambiguous dark forest. As he traverses the surreal landscape, he encounters three beasts—a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf—each more terrifying than the one before. Suddenly, the poet Virgil appears before him; Dante beseeches him for help. As they talk, Virgil reveals that three divine women—the Virgin Mary, Lucia, and Beatrice—have chosen him to come to Dante’s aid. Virgil explains that Beatrice left her heavenly seat to plead their case to him, saying:

‘Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go;
I come from there, where I would fain return;
Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak.’

“In this composition, listen for Dante’s encounters with the three beasts, the poet Virgil, and Virgil’s tale of the divine blessings that Beatrice, Lucia, and Mary have bestowed on Dante’s journey. Thus reassured that he was chosen to do this, Dante follows Virgil onward toward Hell’s Gate.”

Our second take on the Dark Forest was created by Karhide, and sounds like this:

“‘Dark Forest’ is based around the sounds of synthesised strings, strange background noises and a glitchy distorted rhythm to create a dark dense piece of music to get lost in.”