Kit Obrien — Get Grounded
Reviewed by Lauren Levato Coyne

I’m generally a big fan of assembled works, fragments that build a whole. It feels very experiential to me, and reflective of our human experience. Kit Obrien turned her digitized home videos into an assembled soundscape that reflects our own experiences back to us, experiences of love and home that we also had or, perhaps, hoped we had. She effectively used her own personal narrative to weave a story in which we also feel at home.

In her statement, Obrien writers that Get Grounded explores a depressive episode through her nephew’s laughter, “finding light in dark spaces.” I have managed depression throughout my life and can attest to the power of sound during those times. It’s also the sense that is most tied to our cognitive stability or decline as we age. Obrien deftly harnessed the power of hearing + memory, prompting feelings of nostalgia, hope, and kinship with her work.