Synthetic Sounds Lack an Emotional Byte

It sounds so darned intriguing on paper. Imagine using a customized glove--lined with magnetic sensors that detect minute hand movements--to send data to a computer that creates textures of sampled and synthesized sounds.

That’s the idea behind a unique instrument called the Lady’s Glove, designed three years ago by composer and computer programmer Laetitia Sonami for use in electronic glove-controlled performances.

At the UCI Fine Arts Concert Hall on Wednesday night, however, the glove was an unappealing fit. What emerged from the layers of high-tech, computer-based gear (transducers, micro-switches, servo-motors, samplers) was an impersonal, cold-hearted beast. Without an emotional core, the most striking aspect of Sonami’s hourlong, three-piece program was its sterility.

The clinical atmosphere was at odds with Sonami’s stated goals. In a phone interview earlier this week, the Oakland-based performance artist expressed her desire to “bring the theater back . . . that performance aspect of electronic music. My aim is to create a sense of magic and wonderment. Electronic music can be overwhelming, and I want to show the side of technology that is liberated from all the heaviness.”

Yet she somehow lost her way.

Sonami began in need of levity with “Has / Had,” a dark, conceptual work about the instability and eventual collapse of popular music genres. She created an ominous aura as she stalked the stage--waving and slashing with her gloved-hand--to generate eerie sounds from scratches and swooshes to rumbles and crashes. (With her elastic, weblike glove, she resembled a “Batman”-style villain.)

Next up was “Motor Farm,” a new, equally weighty number. A work-in-progress, this exploratory excursion was plagued by monotonous, droning sound-scapes. Particularly guilty were the mechanical, rat-tat-tat rhythmic patterns that chugged along with no apparent destination.

Sonami’s finale, “She Came Back, Again,” didn’t fare much better. Again, a downbeat mood marked by icy sound bytes dominated the landscape. This selection included a prerecorded narrator who might have brought meaning or clarity to the abstract vehicle. Things only got murkier, however, with techno-jargon including: “Gas-charged stabilizers for increased control capacities . . . following the operating principles of closed systems dynamics.”

Ugh. Is this really a necessary part of our concert-going experience? Where’s the tension, drama and complexity of the human experience? Heck, how about a little personality?

Essential to a compelling live performance, in any medium, is the personal connection between performer and audience.

Computers undoubtedly have tremendous interactive capability and unlimited potential for two-way communication. Still, musically, until all that hardware works in service of the song and its composer, I’ll gladly settle for a simple but real voice and an acoustic guitar.