Sonic Voyeur II is the second installation in a series of pieces that explore the relationship between sound and intimacy, and what it means to listen closely to events, actions, and relationships that are in fact quite personal and private.
In the first installation of Sonic Voyeur, the musicians were selectively amplified by a performer using a parabolic microphone. In the second installment, I explore a collective paranoia centered around the feeling that someone is eavesdropping on the musicians’ telephone conversations. Though the piece was written long before the revelations about the US government’s surveillance programs around the world, the piece can be understood in this context rather well. As Joseph Heller once famously said, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you”. In terms of this piece, one might say the following: If you think someone is listening to your conversations, you might just be right.