Laurel Halo shares two songs from hybrid performance piece – watch

You can view the video clips in 360º and, with the appropriate headgear, in 3D

Laurel Halo has shared two songs on Twitter. They are taken from Still Be Here, a ‘concert performance/essay portrait’ that the experimental musician created with sound artist Mari Matsutoya, digital artists Martin Sulzer and LaTurbo Avedon, and choreographer Darren Johnston, which received its premiere at CTM/Transmiediale in Berlin a year ago.

‘Performed’ by VR pop star Hatsune Miku, the face, figure and personality of Crypton Future Media’s Vocaloid 2 software. Anyone with the Vocaloid 2 software can write songs for Hatsune Miku to sing – and songs created using the software have become karaoke favourites in Japan.

According to an accompanying essay by Halo and Mari Matsutoya published on aft3r.us: “Each of the songs in the piece are original compositions, but the lyrics are taken from many sources: the folk song underlying a common crosswalk song in Japan; fragments of various Miku songs; a love letter from a fan; slogans from the corporations who have used her as a mascot.”

The essay also expanded on the concept behind the piece. “Our aim was to create a work that reflected on Miku’s various parallel identities, in the typical fashion of her creation  –  networked and collaborative. We came together under the name of Hatsune Miku, to explore a collective existence in a capital-driven society. It sheds light not only onto her, but also onto the protagonists behind her, beyond the screen.”

You can view As You Wish in 360º and, with the appropriate headgear, in 3D via the player above. “Until I Make U Smile” is below.