View photos from "The Was Once a Forest" at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati

The video and sound installation This Was Once a Forest, This Was Once a Sea is now up and running at the Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati through September 7, 2025. If you are in the area, please visit! It is part of the group show called Ohio Now: State of Nature, and it sits proudly alongside many other Ohio artists’ works. To learn more about this project, visit here.

This Was Once a Forest: On Glacial Grooves, Old-Growth Forests, and Ancient Seabeds

For my latest newsletter, I wrote about an exciting group exhibition opening this Friday (May 2, from 7-10pm) at the Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati called "Ohio Now: State of Nature." I have a new sound/video installation exploring three different places and time periods in Ohio. If you are in Cincinnati this Friday, I hope to see you there! Read the newsletter here.

Noisy Memory Now Available for Pre-Order

Pre-orders are now available for my forthcoming book, Noisy Memory: Recording Sound, Performing Archives. The book will be published on August 28, 2025, with the University of North Carolina Press. Here is an early review of the book: “A beautifully rendered mix of memoir, creative practice, deep listening, and social history, Noisy Memory insists that cultural studies can be both scholarly and personal, artful and ethical. Brian Harnetty reminds us that archival study is never neutral, but always situated—materially, socially, and historically, but also politically—in community. This book is a model for community-engaged humanistic scholarship.”—Ryan Thomas Skinner, author of Afro-Sweden: Becoming Black in a Color-Blind Country

New "Sound Is Magic" Newsletter: Listening To North Carolina

I recently wrote about my experiences of being on an artist residency at Appalachian State in North Carolina last month. It was a great time! You can read all about it here:

Read: Feature Article in Matter News About "The Visitor"

Author Joel Oliphint has written a really nice article on The Visitor premiere with the Greater Columbus Community Orchestra this Sunday, April 6, at 7:00pm, at the Hilliard Presbyterian Church. You can read the article here.

"Ohio Now: State of Nature" at the Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati Starting May 2

I am looking forward to being a part of a new group exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati called "Ohio Now: State of Nature.” The exhibit runs from May 2 through August 17, and then will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland early next year. I'll be sharing a sound and video installation called “This Was Once a Forest, This Was Once a Sea,” which features old growth forest, an ancient sea bed, and glacial grooves, all in Ohio. For more information, visit their website here. You can also learn more and see a still from the video here.

Premiere of "The Visitor" on April 6, 2025

It has been such an honor to work with the Greater Columbus Community Orchestra to develop a new piece for brass ensemble called “The Visitor”. It will be a part of the orchestra’s upcoming spring concert on April 6, 2025. I hope to see you there! For more information, visit the GCCO site here.

Appalachian State Residency: March 4-7, 2025

I am so looking forward to this residency at Appalachian State next week. If you are nearby, I would love to see you at the public events, which include an American Musicological Society sponsored “Many Musics” talk on performing archives, and a solo performance of Words and Silences.

New "Sound Is Magic" Newsletter: Looking forward to 2025

I’ve just put out a new newsletter looking forward to projects and work in 2025. If you aren’t already signed up for the “Sound Is Magic” Substack, please consider doing so! There will be a lot of great things happening in the new year, from new music and sound art commissions, to the publishing of my first book in the fall. I hope you can join me! You can read the newsletter here:

Appalachian State Residency: Postponed

I am sorry to announce that my residency at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, has been postponed. I’ll look forward to visiting next year sometime, and wish everyone a safe and speedy recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Helene. More information here.

UNC Press to Publish "How to Perform an Archive" in 2025

I am pleased to announce that The University of North Carolina Press is publishing my first book. It's called Noisy Memory: Recording Sound, Performing Archives and is about listening to sound archives and the new music and albums I’ve made with them over the past two decades. Look for it in the fall of 2025!

"The Surveyor" Wins a Greater Columbus Arts Council Artist Projects Award

I'm so excited to work on a new project called "The Surveyor" -- In it, I'll look at (and listen to) the complex past and present of Appalachian Ohio through the notebooks of my ancestor, Thomas Spare. I wouldn't be able to do this work without support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Thanks, GCAC!

Listen Now: An Interview on the RiYL Podcast

I had a great conversation on the RiYL (“Recommended if you Like”) podcast. We talked about “The Workbench” and other projects, too. Check it out below!

From the "Sound Is Magic" Newsletter: On "One Word"

You can now read my latest “Sound Is Magic” newsletter, where I listen back to a sound art project from nearly two decades ago, called One Word. I made it while in residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts in California, and it was a pleasure to revisit that time and the music. You can read the newsletter below:

4-Star Review of "The Workbench" from Mojo Magazine

Here is an especially nice review of “The Workbench” from Mojo Magazine: “Dignified, meticulous, profoundly moving sound art.” Many thanks to Mojo!

New Newsletter: On the Making of "The Workbench" Video

A new Sound Is Magic newsletter is out now. In it, I write about the experience of creating the video for my latest project, The Workbench. You can read it in full below:

"The Workbench" Video Premieres Today on Foxy Digitalis Music Magazine

The video premiere of The Workbench is up now on Foxy Digitalis Music Magazine. Many thanks to Brad Rose there for sharing the video and for his kind review. And, thank you again to Kevin Davison for his excellent videography and editing, and Samantha Rehark for her lovely line drawing of the workbench. Rose notes, “I am so moved by this music and these visuals… A masterclass.” I hope the video and music are inspiring to you, too. Watch the video below:

Dusted Magazine Reviews "The Workbench"

Justin Cober-Lake from Dusted Magazine wrote a thoughtful review of The Workbench last week. You can read the full review here:

"The Workbench": Reviews from Aquarium Drunkard and A Closer Listen

"The Workbench" EP is out now -- listen to it on Bandcamp (and all streaming sites, too). It is a sonic portrait of my father, Paul. Here are a couple of great quotes from recent reviews:

From A Closer Listen : "Paul spent his life fixing typewriters and extending the lives of other objects. In similar fashion, Brian now extends his father’s memory, enhancing it with a heartfelt tribute that will introduce him – via the objects he loved – to people who never had the chance to know him. The physical workbench has now become aural; we suspect his father would be proud."

And from Aquarium Drunkard:
"Harnetty creates space for a piece that is at once melancholy, uplifting, winsome, and profound... Carve out some time to let this one work its wonders on you and you may find it about you and yours as well—an ode to all we share and can, together, repair."

A Closer Listen Reviews "The Workbench"

I am releasing an EP this Friday of "The Workbench" and here is such a thoughtful review from A Closer Listen. I love how they really took the time to pay attention to the sounds and grapple with the material and ideas, too.