There are spaces that seem to hold sound even in silence – places where the body listens before the ear understands. For composer and sound artist Abigail Toll, the subterranean chambers of the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum in Malta became exactly such a catalyst. Encountering the Neolithic temple’s resonant architecture sparked the ideas that would eventually become Idol, a work exploring frequency, breath, ritual and the porous boundaries between the ancient and the contemporary.
Moving between academic inquiry and intuitive composition, Toll approaches sound as both material and threshold: a medium capable of activating memory, unsettling perception, and reconnecting the listener with forms of knowledge that precede modern systems. In this conversation, we speak with her about resonance, the politics of the “idol”, deep listening, and the strange dialogue between ancient spaces and present bodies.
Chain D.L.K.: Idol was sparked by your encounter with the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. Do you remember the first moment when the space seemed to respond to your body before it spoke to your ears?
Abigail Toll: The site is really difficult to access, because it’s so oversubscribed and very fragile these days. For that reason, it makes the experience much more collective, where you can’t really veer off and explore because there are guardrails keeping you on a path. Still, I was in awe of the Hypogeum from the moment I stepped into it. It’s impossible to articulate how it felt when visiting, I tend to describe it as an atmosphere composed of static and “chatter” from other dimensions. Since then, I’ve become extremely interested in the quantum possibilities of non-linear time and how these ancient spaces can mediate between histories, geographies and species.
Chain D.L.K.: The frequencies 70Hz and 114Hz are often described as physiologically active. For you, are they tools, thresholds, or something closer to collaborators?
Abigail Toll: I love the idea of seeing the frequencies as collaborators. I’ve never thought of it in this way. They are in a rational sense, tools, and in a more metaphysical sense, thresholds that invite questions, and open up new sensations. I think CC Hennix sums this up really beautifully, when she says that the architecture of a room is intended for listening to inner sound. The room prepares the listener to tune the ears to particular musical frequencies, so in this case, 70 and 114Hz could absolutely be considered collaborators.
Chain D.L.K.: You suggest that the goddess survives the way sound survives – through what and whom it touches. What kind of survival is that?
Abigail Toll: A sculpture of the goddess was found inside the site. It carries this symbolism of how central she was to the rites and ceremonies practiced by the neolithic people. I found it to sit in extreme contrast with how women are perceived today in capitalist societies. In this way, the goddess relic felt so significant, she exudes a stoic power; through thousands of years of pressure, weathering and abrasion, her form still persists. Her survival in physical form holds meaning: it serves as a reminder of an ancient feminine knowledge that is consistently denigrated and dismissed today, because it is so powerful and a threat to the dominant power systems that we are now witnessing the fall of.
Chain D.L.K.: How much of Idol was consciously composed, and how much was allowed to unfold on its own, almost ritually?
Abigail Toll: I consciously composed it for three years until it eventually took on a life of its own and was re-worked and finished in one week. I originally wanted to take impulse response signals from inside the temple, but wasn’t allowed, so I adopted a more intuitive approach and composed a sound world around the two frequencies.
Chain D.L.K.: The flute in your work often feels less like a melodic instrument and more like an extension of breath. What does breathing mean to you as a compositional material?
Abigail Toll: Yes this is so true. Even though I’ve played the flute for many years, I feel like it’s also become much more an extension of my breath. I have some earlier compositions that are super melodic but it never feels fully like home. When composing my first solo record, an ensemble piece called Matrices of Vision, the breath was such a huge part of the composition. I took classes focusing specifically on the breath and developed a meditation practice which was essential to sustaining such an intensive technique for a durational period. Since then, I’ve found myself drifting deeper into minimalistic flute and breath interplay. There were times when I would sit with my mentor Rebecca Lane and we would just play tones and ratios together on our flutes for a couple of hours, to feel what happens when intonation affects the beating that would take place when the tuning moved together and apart. The kinds of colour and mood associations are really amazing when you sit and focus intensively on this for prolonged periods of time.
Chain D.L.K.: Idol moves between the divine and the unsettling. Is that tension something you actively seek, or does it emerge on its own?
Abigail Toll: I’ve always gravitated towards this tension quite unconsciously. I think it illustrates something that exists beyond words.. it’s a coming together of our turbulent contemporary experience that is deeply unsettling, and seeking safety in the divine.
Chain D.L.K.: Do you think ancient spaces still “listen”, or is it we who must relearn how to listen to them?
Abigail Toll: Ancient spaces absolutely listen. The Hypogeum was sculpted in a way that was literally created to listen and respond. And I do think that many of us are too distracted to listen to them. In that we might feel our bodies responding but don’t tend to inquire as to what those sensations are telling us.
Chain D.L.K.: Your practice weaves together academic research and something close to ritual or magic. How do method and enchantment coexist in your process?
Abigail Toll: Yes this is true, I would agree it definitely errs more towards ritual than magic. I find the tension between having limitations and opening yourself up to a very focussed, present state very helpful when composing. The general atmosphere of the Hypogeum and its mysticism were a huge influence for this record, as well as influences from other composers orbiting these themes such as Black Quantum Futurism, CC Hennix, Sun Ra, Eliane Radigue among others.
Chain D.L.K.: In what ways does Idol differ from Matrices of Vision? Does it feel like an evolution, a rupture, or a shift in scale?
Abigail Toll: Idol was developed in parallel to Matrices of Vision, so I see it as a counterpart. MoV was responding to a lived experience–somewhat site specific in a way–and although it had a rigorous and academic approach, it was also very emotional. It soundtracked a tense political period beginning with the 2020 pandemic and George Floyd’s murder in the US, along with the “me too” and BLM movements that it engendered. Idol couldn’t come into existence until after Matrices of Vision was finished, because I needed it as an outlet, a catharsis to a really intensive multiyear compositional and performance process. Idol speaks more to my intuition, and is definitely a rupture. Now I’m ready to return to the ensemble format but incorporating more elements from Idol. In fact I’m in the process of developing a new body of work called ‘The Afterimage Series’ which is an expansion of the album’s final track.
Chain D.L.K.: In this album, the voice often feels more like a gesture than a vehicle for language. What draws you to vocality beyond semantic meaning?
Abigail Toll: Yes, I am far more attracted to the voice beyond words, where language dissolves and communication becomes more extrasensory and intuitive. And the voice could be viewed as such in this context, as an expressive instrument that contributes to the overall atmosphere rather than taking a leading role.
Chain D.L.K.: You’ve described your music as capable of both divination and terror. What frightens you about sound today?
Abigail Toll: “Divine and terrifying” is how another musician described my live performance of Idol. I often reflect on how drones can be terrifying, how they are used in sonic warfare and to sound alarms.
Chain D.L.K.: The idea of the “idol” carries connotations of power, projection, and symbolic violence. How political is this title for you?
Abigail Toll: It is partially political, and I really appreciate that you picked up on that aspect. The Idol is a very powerful symbol in terms of how it can instill a sense of spiritual power but also political. My mind immediately goes to how the US empire constructs Idols in its image and disseminates it through its culture industries.
Chain D.L.K.: You collaborate with artists such as Lucy Railton, Rashad Becker, and Hma Utku. What do you look for when you entrust your sound to others?
Abigail Toll: I’ve known Lucy for some time and her attention to detail and devotion to sound is why I knew that I could count on her to polish the album. She has a level of focus that I have rarely encountered. Rashad is a mastering legend for a reason, his precision and intuition is really impressive. And Hma and I meet each other on a more philosophical level, where our interests in consciousness overlap, as well as an aesthetic appreciation for each other’s work.
Chain D.L.K.: Is the live performance, for you, a transformation of the work or a test of it? Does the piece change, or do you?
Abigail Toll: I think it’s definitely a transformation of the work and it’s one that continues to evolve through performances in collaboration with lighting designer and media artist Anton Filatov as well as double bassist Caleb Salgado who I have performed with a few times. Each time, a new configuration or aspect is opened up, and I’m seeking to develop and expand it even further as I play shows later this year.
Chain D.L.K.: The A/V show and the HOLON exhibition seem to extend Idol beyond the album format. At what point does a record stop being “just” music?
Abigail Toll: Yes, the album didn’t have a traditional physical component, rather I wanted to create a physical event that could be embodied itself. I’m interested in extending and expanding the format beyond an album because I want people to be as immersed in different aspects of the sound world as possible.
Chain D.L.K.: The exhibition subtitle, Lick the walls to understand echoes, suggests a radically embodied form of listening. How central is the listener’s body in your work?
Abigail Toll: I work a lot with the vibratory resonance of tones and so the body is integral to the listening process, as it’s not so much about the auditory quality of tones but the sensations of the tones themselves and how they open up new neural networks and connections to all forms of life around us.
Chain D.L.K.: In an age of compressed attention and distracted listening, Idol demands time and immersion. Do you see that as a form of resistance?
Abigail Toll: To me it feels like resistance, also for the themes it is dealing with. After being exposed daily to capitalist man-made systems it feels like a safe space to retreat to, both when I was making the album and even now when I perform it. To me, the album is much less demanding, more accessible, than Matrices of Vision.
Chain D.L.K.: Do you feel closer to the role of composer, researcher, or medium – or are these categories no longer useful to you?
Abigail Toll: In my case, all three overlap in traditional and unconventional ways. Categories are always helpful in communicating and marketing an album and artist, however I often slip in between these quite defiantly.
Chain D.L.K.: If Idol were a place rather than a sound, what kind of space would it be: subterranean, enclosed, unstable, sacred?
Abigail Toll: It’s associated so closely to the Hypogeum that it would be a subterranean sacred space.
Chain D.L.K.: After working so intensely with echoes – physical, historical, and symbolic – what do you hope this album leaves resonating in others?
Abigail Toll: I hope that it encourages others to listen with their bodies, to use sound and deep listening as a way to explore how we are connected to something much more ancient and intelligent than this system we live within.
Visit Abigail Toll on the web:
https://abigailtoll.com/
https://abigailtoll.bandcamp.com/