Wildroot & Amber

Originally conceived as a kind of apothecary, Wildroot & Amber is both music and experience. It weaves together five compositions with containers of memorabilia that, when lifted, release samples of voices, winds, and field recordings. Each jar becomes a vessel of memory, transforming fragments into sound.

The apothecary here is not a place of cures, but a keeper of moments—each composition a tincture, a relic, a vessel for what might otherwise be lost.

For Signals, the installation plays the recorded songs, allowing the jars to shape the listening experience. Lift a jar, and a voice is released—echoes of letters, fragments of the past, breath of a place. Together, they weave into the music, making no two playings of a song the same.

The project began in Japan as an exploration of bottles as vessels of memory, then was rebuilt in Vancouver with the help of Lara’s daughter Zoe (whose voice is also part of the samples), using Microcontrollers (Arduino), laser-cut boxes, and jars filled with letters and memorabilia. In the installation, visitors are invited to listen on headphones and pick up a jar to release voices and textures that fold into the five songs, blurring the line between listener and participant. Memory becomes sound; sound becomes memory.

Wildroot & Amber is both a collection and an invocation—a sonic apothecary shaped by rice fields, ritual, and remembrance.

Artist Biography

Mel-lif-lu-ous (AKA Lara Kroeker ) is a classically trained violinist and sound artist whose work blends ambient, electronic, and experimental traditions. She has written two albums during international artist residencies—most recently in Japan, where she created Wildroot & Amber, and earlier in Iceland. Lara has toured across North America, performing with a wide range of musicians.