Vincent Giles, in spite of his busy schedule, always makes time for a coffee. The sound artist/composer is also Artist in Residence at the University of Melbourne’s School of Chemistry, as well as a PhD candidate at Monash University. His thesis: ‘Microsound, Spectra, Objectivity: a meme’s-eye view of comprehension in music’. He also blogs infrequently about optimising Vegan recipes. Today, however, he is talking about a sound installation inspired by the Auction Rooms café. This year his compositions will be featured there as a part of Uncommon Places, a project run in conjunction with the Melbourne Fringe Festival which provides an opportunity for artists to create and exhibit their work in non-traditional settings.

“Well, it’s not pop,” Giles says of his work. Certainly not, though it’s difficult to define a genre that encapsulates the scope of his work. What is clear is that Giles’ music is often intimately linked to the setting in which it is appreciated: there is an intentional blurring of the distinction between the content of the piece and the ambient noise of the space. The use of ambient noise in music has become more accepted and appreciated since the controversial premiere of John Cages’ 4’33” in 1952, which consisted of four minutes and thirty three seconds of ambient noises in a concert hall. However, Giles’ work is intended to enhance the existing soundscape instead of merely making the audience aware of it. One such piece, Heard/Unheard: Flux, which was performed at the Portland Upwelling Festival in 2012, guided listeners through the Portland Foreshore, the composition evolving as the listener progressed through different areas.

Giles has a keen interest in the sciences, which is reflected in the way he sources and structures the sounds for his compositions. While some of his pieces are quite minimalist, such as the recent piano piece Movement Study #1, the majority of his work focuses on finding new ways to weave hard science into musical composition. His residency at the School of Chemistry demonstrates the breadth of Giles’ inspiration. In addition, Giles’ fascination with ‘microsound’ – sounds at the very cusp of human detection, of very short duration, very high or low frequency, or very low amplitude – betrays his fascination with the physics of sound.

This August through October, Giles’ work will be on show as part of Uncommon Places. Giles’ contribution is a suite of two electronic music pieces that are intended to be appreciated in the Auction Rooms café in North Melbourne. Each piece is inspired by different aspects of the setting: one piece is inspired by the chemical composition of a Kenyan single-origin coffee (Kihuyo), while the other samples the ambient sounds of the café itself. This suite of music is designed to be consumed alongside a pour-over coffee, and a link to access the audio will be listed beside the beverage on the menu. A pour-over is a method of coffee preparation that reveals the complex and subtle flavour of the beans, and is an appropriate pairing for Giles’ composition. Through this music, Giles hopes that the mundane act of coffee drinking, something that people do several times a day without ceremony, will become a more mindful experience. The Auction Rooms, a café renown for its dynamic approach to coffee, is definitely an appropriate setting for exploring new ways to appreciate this daily ritual.

Giles’ Bits and Pieces and Put Together to Create, as well as the Kihuyo pour-over piece can be acquired, consumed and meditated over at the Auction Rooms Café, 103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne, from 11 August until 4 October.