The Russo Atrium might be a space you walk through without taking note of your surroundings. If you are a Dartmouth student, you might be grabbing a snack at the Courtyard Café, passing through the area to drop off your jacket before entering the museum, or heading to a class in the Bernstein Center for Object Study. But with the help of Spotify and our atrium speakers, this space is now also host to music almost every day. And the tracks you hear are all thanks to the musical interests of the visitor services team! Everyone brings their own flair and contributes to the Russo Atrium’s aural and atmospheric presence. With the guidance of this blog post and a pair of inquisitive ears, you might even be able to figure out who is playing what.
DAN
Dan’s current preference for Krautrock, an experimental style of German rock music from the 1960s, is actually quite a departure for him. “To move on from the instrumental standards (classical, Coltrane, Davis, Rollins) . . . I have to expand my horizons.” This genre speaks to him on more than just a sonic level: “Unlike the 60s hippies who were rebelling against the Vietnam war and plastic consumerism, the Krautrock bands were rebelling against their parents/grandparents . . . they had to go real far out.” Dan cites artists like Harmonia, La Düsseldorf, and Tangerine Dream as his favorites, and he recommends Julian Cope’s book Krautrocksampler: One Head’s Guide to the Great Kosmische Musik—1968 Onwards for all who are interested in learning more. Dan likes sharing this music with visitors “to give them something they haven’t heard before.”
DELAINEY
When given the choice, Delainey opts for instrumental covers of Hozier tracks. Born Andrew Hozier-Byrne, the Irish singer-songwriter now widely known as “Hozier” released his first EP in 2013, and his career has been on a steady climb ever since. He is known for his earnest, dreamy melodies, which persist even in the covers of his songs; Delainey puts it best when she says that his music “has a nice groove.” This Grammy nominee is humble despite boasting 31 million monthly listeners on Spotify: “To affectionate fans, he’s some kind of woodland sprite who sequesters himself in the Irish countryside—writing songs and occasionally sharing Instagram videos of himself marveling at badger sets or rolling down hills.”¹ For those visitors who are already Hozier fans, Delainey “hopes they enjoy and are excited to recognize the tunes.”
GRACE
Grace was inspired by the exhibition And I’m Feeling Good: Relaxation and Resistance to “to find joy in music.” In fact, And I’m Feeling Good has a playlist of its own on the Hood Spotify created by Associate Curator of Photography Alisa Swindell, which you can hear playing in the gallery if you visit the exhibition on Thursdays. Grace is drawn to television and film soundtracks as well as covers of alternative music by artists such as the Guitar Tribute Players. She says, “This was the music I listened to from middle school through college, when my music interests started to change into mainly alternative/indie rock and some pop music.” She likes to use covers to revisit these “old friends” and expose guests to a genre of music they may not expect to hear at an art museum.
HANNAH
If Hannah is playing the music in the atrium, you might hear a playlist called Punk Goes Classical, which consists of classical-style covers of songs in the punk genre. This playlist features songs by bands such as My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy, whose music defined the rise of pop-punk in the 2000s at a time when music was able to spread through means other than radio play or the sale of physical media like cassettes or CDs. In the 2000s, punk fans would flock to websites like YouTube and MySpace to discover new artists and songs.² Aside from classical-style punk songs, Hannah likes to play soft jazz or acoustic covers of music with lyrics. She says, “I like to play music that is both enjoyable to me and that I think will create a welcoming atmosphere for visitors.”
JEREMY
Jeremy’s favorite piece to play is Jupiter, a movement from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite The Planets. Holst insisted that he was inspired more by astrology than by astronomy, but the scale of these works—both the size of the orchestra required to perform them and the fullness of the melodic textures—are nothing short of astronomical. When the suite premiered in 1920, Holst wrote the following note: “These pieces were suggested by the astrological significance of the planets; there is no programme music, neither have they any connection with the deities of classical mythology bearing the same names . . . Jupiter brings jollity in the ordinary sense, and also the more ceremonial type of rejoicing associated with religions or national festivities.”³ Having performed it in his own high school orchestra, this work makes Jeremy quite nostalgic. He is delighted to share his love of wind band and orchestral music with the museum’s guests in the atrium.
JOHN
John is more free-flowing with the music that he plays, favoring instrumental pop music or basically anything that he thinks “college kids would recognize.” While purely instrumental songs represent only a small part of contemporary pop music, Spotify is not starved for cover bands that translate popular lyrical music into sometimes-stylized covers. The “Bardcore” or “Tavernwave” genre of covers takes popular music and swaps out electric guitars for lutes and mandolins, an example of the growing phenomenon of highly stylized pop music covers.⁴ John says, “My goal while playing music is to create an atmosphere of wonder or fullness when entering the atrium. I want students to want to come in and study in our space because the music is the right vibe.”
NATALIE
If Natalie is playing music, you’ll probably hear Spotify’s “Instrumental Bluegrass” playlist, a “Made for You” option wherein the app’s algorithm creates a set of music “based on your listening habits (what you like, share, save, skip) and the listening habits of others with similar taste.” The bluegrass genre traces its roots to the Appalachian Mountain region of the United States in the 1600s. As the genre developed, it blended with Black American Gospel music, which is largely responsible for what we recognize as bluegrass today. It gained significant exposure in the early 20th century with the advent of the radio, which allowed the music to spread beyond the confines of the Appalachian Mountains.⁵ Its signature fiddles and banjos can be heard whenever Natalie is playing music at the desk.
ROSA
As the newest member of the team, Rosa tends to opt for electronic music and has a soft spot for Pye Corner Audio, which specializes in sci-fi-inspired electronica. Their stylings sound more like the soundtrack to a retrofuturist motion picture than the stereotypical upbeat electronic dance music. She says that she likes that the music is energetic “and not too brooding or moody, but cerebral is okay. What is the distinction between brooding and cerebral? Only my ears can tell.” She tends to seek out music for her writing playlist and happened across Pye Corner Audio in her mission to find music that makes her feel grounded and focused. When asked what she thinks her music evokes for visitors, she said, “I want to bring something new and different to the music selection to ensure that the atrium has something novel going on.”
SEAN
I am a big fan of basically any alternative instrumental music that I can get my hands on, but I particularly enjoy playing the 1977 album Black Devil Disco Club Presents: Cosmos 2043. The band Black Devil Disco Club is the brainchild of Bernard Fèvre, who was a library-music (also known as stock music) composer in France in the 1970s, which led to the creation of his electronic opuses. For some time, his recordings were thought to be lost, until experimental artist Aphex Twin’s label Rephlex reissued four of his tracks in 2004 for use by DJs. In 2014, Fèvre’s music was reissued once again, this time as one LP containing two full albums. According to Fèvre, Cosmos 2043 is a concept album that explores “a far future populated by space-age electronics and lush, vivid melody.”⁶ In my opinion, the Monodic Moog synthesizer used by Fèvre creates an excellent atmosphere in the atrium.
While visiting the museum, we tend to think about engaging only one of our five senses: sight. While there’s certainly lots to look at here, we also want to encourage people to listen and appreciate art across all mediums, whether painting, sculpture, or music. If you’re curious about what the visitor services guides might be playing, stick around after your visit and listen a little longer or come by and study on one of our comfy couches. And feel free to come by the front desk and ask what album or artist or playlist is coming out of the speakers—we would be happy to share! If you can’t come see us in person, you can keep up with what we are listening to at the Hood Museum on our Spotify account.
This post was authored by: Sean DuMont, Visitor Services Guide
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sinclair “Sean” DuMont joined the Visitor Services Guide team at the Hood Museum in September of 2023, just after graduating from Cornell University with a BA in Literatures in English. Before this, Sean worked as a researcher at Ithaca College and the University of Chicago. Sean’s experience engaging with the topic of Posthumanism as a researcher drew them to museum spaces which celebrate the vibrancy of objects and their capacity to tell stories autonomously. He is thrilled to be a part of the team.
Sources:
1. Julia Johnson, “Hozier Interview: On Solitude, Relationships and His New Album Unreal Unearth,” The Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/hozier-interview-unreal-unearth-dantes-inferno-b2393389.html. Published 16 August 2023.
2. Aliya Chaudhry, “A Brief History of 21st Century Pop-Punk, from MySpace to Tumblr to TikTok,” Stereogum, https://www.stereogum.com/2149013/pop-punk-social-media-platforms-myspace-tumblr-tiktok/columns/sounding-board/. Published 26 May 2021.
3. Richard E. Rodda, “Program Notes: Gustav Holst’s The Planets,” Des Moines Symphony, https://dmsymphony.org/about/news/program-notes-gustav-holst-s-the-planets/. Published 15 November 2022.
4. “Yes, Bardcore Is Now a ‘Thing,’” Mystorical, https://www.mystorical.net/post/yes-bardcore-is-now-a-thing. Published 1 October 2020.
5. “A Brief History of Bluegrass Music,” Bluegrass Heritage Foundation, https://bluegrassheritage.org/history-of-bluegrass-music/.
6. “Three Classic LPs by Italo Disco Pioneer Bernard Fèvre to Be Reissued,” Fact Mag, https://www.factmag.com/2015/03/04/bernard-fevre-classic-albums-to-be-reissued/. Published 4 March 2015.)
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