Noise #166: Two Koreas and the buffer between them

Locals adapt as tensions thicken.

While The New York Times remains weirdly obsessed with pushing Biden from the presidential race…

…and the Supreme Court treats the Constitution like a Vegas buffet…

…and Project 2025 gleefully reimagines America as a puritanical Christian wonderland…

…other things are happening around the world, too.

The Independent tells a compelling story about growing friction—and potential for violent escalation—in the buffer zone between North and South Korea.

Local guesthouse operator Yoon Seol Hyun relates how North Korean soldiers crossed into the demilitarized zone several times last month, how balloons filled with trash have been floating south across the DMZ, ostensibly in response to balloons carrying propaganda materials that had previously floated north.

Yoon worries that if things escalate, both sides of the peninsula will go from trading balloons to trading bullets and bombs instead, and that his village will be the first to be impacted.

In Noise #166, I used the extremes of the piano to channel the vision of one entity violently broken into two, with small bubbles of notes trespassing into the space between. The piece also accelerates and ends abruptly, reflecting the senses of increased tension and uncertainty baked into the current situation.

I hope you enjoy listening:

Wishing you a peaceful weekend,

Michael

(Noise #166 by Michael Gallant. Copyright 2024 Gallant Music LLC. All Rights Reserved.)