EXCERPT Edited transcript from the Sonic Faction listening session, 8 February 2023, KARST Contemporary Arts, Plymouth, UK. Robin Mackay: Some of you might be wondering what an audio essay is, and that’s why we’re doing this event—because we have the same question. The three of us have all made pieces that we’ve decided to place under the heading of the audio essay, which is something which we can provisionally define as being characterised by the use of voice together with sound collage and music—somewhere in-between a radio play, a documentary, ambient sound, field recording, and mixtape. We’re interested in understanding why each of us has turned to it, in our different ways, in order to make the work that we wanted to make. There’s also a common thread here because of a shared heritage: Justin, Steve, and myself have all known each other since the nineties, and were involved in working together in various ways at a point at which UK cyberculture, electronic music, and speculative philosophy collided in a quite unique way — so maybe the discussion will cover that heritage as well to some extent.…