Are you okay? is a tale of anxiety that is experienced through a series of fragmented electronic/electroacoustic compositions, which contrast with each other and form new forms in their interplay.

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Via the expressive language of music, Julie Østengaard explores in the work's partial compositions to interpret the many faces of anxiety and a search for redemption. The pieces are revealed as fragments in turns and in overlays with each other via a generative editing - as if they constantly exist behind the windows of a facade that are opened and closed randomly to reveal them momentarily. In its compositional idiom, the work depicts the condition's uncontrollable alternation between unrest and calm.

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The musical universe moves dynamically between rhythmic bursts of noise, deconstructed voice samples and liberating ambient sound surfaces, which draw inspiration from a number of electronic genres, including experimental ambient, electroacoustic, musique concrete, soundscape, IDM, glitch and noise. Occasionally the music is interrupted spontaneously - among other things by a guided meditation, a series of advertisements whose products will make you the best version of yourself and the composer's own voice asking, are you okay?

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The work takes its point of departure from an artistic processing of Julie Østengaard's own experiences, while in extension she examines her place in a society where mental vulnerability is one of the most widespread health threats.

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Are you okay? premiered at the Klang festival 2023 outdoors in front of the Black Diamond

The concert was performed with modular synthesizer, voice and megaphone.