Jolly Birdie is the project of Baltimore-based composer and musician Joe Aliberti. Drawing from ambient, drone, and space music, the project centers on hardware synthesizers to create sounds that evoke calm and contemplation. Joe has been developing Jolly Birdie for over eight years, but the project has recently gained more visibility through local performances—and collaborations like this one.

Voice from the Machine is the electronic project of Timothy Gordon Neher, based in Reading, PA. Tim has been making music for nearly two decades, with a fascination for synths and electronic production that began in high school—covering punk songs using a Juno-60 and GarageBand. He went on to study music composition at the University of the Arts. Around the time of the pandemic, his practice took a sharp turn toward modular synthesis, which now sits at the heart of Voice from the Machine. On stage, the project becomes experimental electronic pop: vocoded vocals layered over a fully live modular setup. Off stage, it shapeshifts into something more abstract—like the industrial soundscapes in this performance, conjuring a dark vision of the future.

You can learn more about these performers on the Exposure Therapy website: https://www.exposuretx.com/sessions/jolly-birdie-voice-from-the-machine