Originally from Oklahoma City, USA, California-based composer Madalyn Merkey is an artist working in acoustic research and live computer music. Her practice began as a visual artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she transitioned to sound and time-based art. Two albums of her experiments with voice, Scent (2012) and Valley Girl (2014), have been released on Matt Mondanile’s New Images imprint. Recent projects combine traditional instruments and electronics in live performance. In observing the acoustic principles of an instrument, she designs a real-time synthesis program to generate complementary timbral events and contrasting scales. This has led to an ongoing series of site-specific electronic music performances, in which principles of location, room acoustics and surround sound, are the foundation to develop sound material. Her new LP, Puzzle Music, will be released in the UK from Mana Records before the end of the year.