The Sound of Sunrise: Microsoft AI-powered musical Venture
An enchanting form of artistic expression, music has always conveyed unspeakable wonders to human experience. Whether as an upbeat sound that makes us dance or a sad ballad that sends us into tears, it never fails to touch our core being. We experience music every day. We use it to relax, express ourselves, and deal with our emotions. Music, after all, is the language of the soul.
Songs and melodies have the power to inspire people, guide their actions, and aid in the formation of identities. Music can unite people – even if absorbed in solitude, capture your imagination and boost creativity. It has the power to connect with and influence people because it can bridge a divide in communication. And music has not limited the expression of human creativity even in the age of digital technology.
88rising, an Asian media collective and music company based in the US, embarked on a music experiment with an equipment installation that “captures the sound of sunrise.” Well, sure it sounds weird but it came out with the fascination of the skyline above the San Gabriel Valley.
The San Gabriel Valley, located just east of Los Angeles, is home to the largest concentration of Asian American communities in the country and remains a historically important enclave for recent Asian immigrants. 88rising has high hopes for Asian American artists to thrive and be appreciated by the American music industry.
Above the San Gabriel Valley, the sky is an ever-changing canvas of sights—a warm sunrise over a town, a dramatic pattern of clouds, a flock of birds doing a choreographed dance across a skyline. The 88rising venture is a collaboration with its resident artist Warren Hue.
Using a video feed streaming from an overlook above the Valley, the installation took 88rising artist Warren Hue’s track “Too Many Tears” and remixed it using AI as it reacted to events in the landscape and skyline in real-time.
It’s a whole new way to experience Hue’s song—not only sonically, but also visually. For example, as dawn rises above the Valley, the track has an ethereal, optimistic feel. Drum patterns are sparse, and audio effects like reverb float over the ambient but harmonious track.
Sean Miyashiro, founder and CEO of 88rising, wanted to offer both meditative and inspiring moments for listeners. It was also important to the creative team that the project showcase a place that’s significant to Asian American communities, reflecting on a broader shared experience around the constant nature of change.
This was especially true for Warren Hue, who wrote “Too Many Tears” in response to his experiences as an Asian artist: “’[It’s] a hip-hop and R&B song that I wrote with a unique beat and structure—reflecting on myself and my dreams and the reality of how people treat me.”
The project is part of an evolution of Microsoft AI-powered musical collaborations, from Julianna Barwick to and Björk and now Warren Hue. But “Too Many Tears” is very much situated in a specific place, a digital manifestation of 88rising’s mission to amplify the voices of Asian and Asian American artists.
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