Is single malt whisky affected by live music? Is its taste improved by visible sound waves?
These were the questions asked by the makers of the Glenfiddich 21 Year Old single malt, who decided to test the theory with an evening of recorded musical artistry.
For one night, a diverse ‘cast’ of experts in the science of cymatics (the study of visible sound waves), Caribbean vocalist Calma Carmona, and the Co-Operative Orchestra of Scotland came together for filming in a London warehouse.
Inspired by the whisky raised in Scotland and roused by the Caribbean, Franz Ferdinand track Love Illumination was selected as the experiment’s catalyst.
The artistic collaboration echoed the qualities of the single malt, which is matured for 21 years in Scotland then finished for four months in Glenfiddich’s Caribbean rum casks.
The artists performed the track in real time to an ‘audience’ of bespoke, precision-crafted devices manufactured to capture the cymatic effects of the music on the liquid.
Decanter devices produced horizontal pulses and vibrations associated with the stringed instruments and Calma's vocals, while the Double Helix and Zig Zag devices manifested air twists and zig zag patterns created by flowing whisky in response to the sounds.
TenHertz director Felix Thorn said it was “a first” for the creative laboratory.
“It took months of research and testing of the device prototypes before we built the final installation you see in the film,” he said.
“Liquid is, by its nature, a fluid medium, and we weren’t able to offer any guarantees that these specially developed techniques would work away from a laboratory environment.
“The sweat and stress was worth it when we captured that single drop of single malt in blissful isolation. As an image, and as an outcome of more than a year’s work, it was a beautiful thing.”
View the full experiment in the film here.
