Holly Herndon

Holly Herndon

Holly Herndon is an American sound artist, composer and musician from Johnson City, Tennessee, with an origin also associated with San Francisco. She works in electronic and experimental music and is based in Berlin, Germany. Her music is computer-based and often uses Max/MSP to build custom instruments and vocal processing systems. Herndon is also associated with experimental electronic and pop music.

Music and releases

Herndon releases music on RVNG Intl. and 4AD. Her solo release CAR appears in 2010 as a site-specific cassette on ThirdSex in Chicago. Her work centres on the electronically processed voice, extended vocal techniques, vocal processing and FM synthesis, and it explores embodied experience in electronic media.

Education and awards

She receives an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College, where she studies with John Bischoff, James Fei, Maggi Payne and Fred Frith. While at Mills, she wins the Elizabeth Mills Crothers award for Best Composer in 2010 for her vocal-generated piece 195. She is also announced as a candidate for doctoral study in Electronic Music at Stanford University.

Collaborations and projects

Herndon works with Jlin, Hieroglyphic Being, Rene Hell and Iranian philosopher Reza Negarestani. She also performs with the media group .

Other work

Outside her own recording work, Herndon curates and manages exhibits and residencies at The Children’s Creativity Museum in San Francisco and teaches music technology at the University of the Pacific. She co-founds the +dialog speaker series at Gray Area Foundation of the Arts in San Francisco, which hosts Kode9, Erik Davis, Max Matthews, Douglas Kahn and others.

Publication and ongoing practice

She is working on a book on embodiment in electronic music performance for the Swiss publisher Van Dieren, alongside her solo debut album.