Dispatches
DISPATCHES from the CHARCOAL FOREST
an expanded song cycle for 6 voices and soundscape
Merlin’s newest project is a 40-minute nonlinear sound art contemplation of fire, emergency and aftermath. A quadraphonic soundtrack incorporates recorded stories and found sound, and provides the baseline for a live performance during which six singers surround and move among the audience.
The building blocks of this work include audio interviews collected from those who have lost loved ones to fire, firefighters, clean-up crews and ecologists, as well as clips sourced from 911 dispatch calls.
Merlin is working with musical director Kelly Atkins of the Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble and six singers.
DISPATCHES FROM the CHARCOAL FOREST was presented at the Paul Dresher studio in Oakland and the Milk Bar in Richmond, CA in May of 2026.
Merlin was recently interviewed twice about the show by Daedalus Howell of 95.5 Sonoma County Radio. Listen below
“It’s a funny thing to feel yourself starting to break down in public in response to art — to know there are 36 minutes ahead of you and none of them is safe from feeling. I say this as a compliment. It is a privilege, as a critic, to be in the presence of something so undeniably alive.”
– Rahawa Haile, Coyote Media