Can the Subway Become a Musical Instrument?
It all started with a sound. During a ride on the Tokyo metro, James Murphy (of the band LCD Soundsystem) noticed the subway used alerts that sounded “quite lovely and gentle.” While at the airport in Barcelona, he heard tri-toned bells that reminded him of his favorite song from childhood. But, back home in New York City, Murphy returned to the chaotic, shrill turnstile beeps that form the soundtrack of the New York subway system. Eventually, Murphy asked a question that should have been asked years ago: what if the New York subway started sounding, well, nicer?
Subway Symphony is Murphy’s answer to that question. His idea: a system in which each subway stop has a unique sequence of four tones. Every turnstile swipe emits one of the tones, or one of a series of complementary tones. It would create a unique cluster of sounds in every subway stop, helping riders identify their destination by ear. No set of notes would be repeated twice, but all the stops in a neighborhood would have similar chords.
So far, the higher-ups who run the subway don’t seem so interested in Murphy’s plan. But that hasn’t stopped him. “People are very proud of where in the city they’re from,” Murphy says. “These tones could be a way of locating yourself. I think 20 years from now, people will grow up and think, ‘These are the sounds from where I came from.’ The sounds become a part of the city’s fabric.”
You can add your signature to his online petition to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority here. Listen to the complete interview with James Murphy here.
Special thanks to Q2 Music and Hannis Brown.
