Alec Hall's debut portrait album weaves field recordings, spectral analysis, and spoken word into vivid, provocative sound worlds.

Alec Hall's debut portrait album weaves field recordings, spectral analysis, and spoken word into vivid, provocative sound worlds. A Dog Is a Machine for Loving features canine companions as musical co-conspirators, exploring interspecies kinship through piano and pre-recorded dog sounds. There Are Only Two Ways to See Inside Someone pairs erotic intimacy with the cold gaze of medical imaging, while The Water's Memory, the Memory of Sand wrestles with inherited trauma and geopolitical violence. Across these works, Hall transforms raw reality into layered musical storytelling, echoing Donna Haraway's call for co-creation and companionship in a fractured world.

Track Listing

• A Dog Is a Machine for Loving (2016–2024) for piano, spoken voice and fixed media: Part 1: Buddy and Piper
• A Dog Is a Machine for Loving (2016–2024) for piano, spoken voice and fixed media: Part 2: Merckx
• A Dog Is a Machine for Loving (2016–2024) for piano, spoken voice and fixed media: Part 3: Cães de Sagres
• A Dog Is a Machine for Loving (2016–2024) for piano, spoken voice and fixed media: Part 4: Mathilda
• A Dog Is a Machine for Loving (2016–2024) for piano, spoken voice and fixed media: Part 5: Mabel
• A Dog Is a Machine for Loving (2016–2024) for piano, spoken voice and fixed media: Part 6: New York City Dog Parks
• There Are Only Two Ways to See Inside Someone (2019–2022) for violin and live electronics
• The Water’s Memory, the Memory of Sand (2021) for string quartet

Additional Details

Label: Kairos

Genre: Contemporary Instrumental

Run Time: 77:43 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 07/11/25

UPC: 9120010286520