Sue Ann Harkey

About

Sue Ann Harkey, a sonic cartographer of the cassette realm, charted her path from 1982 to 1991 with an interdisciplinary approach to sound and narrative. Her work lives at the intersection of vocal experimentation and lo-fi aesthetics, where each release unfolds like an exploratory map, guiding the listener through the liminal spaces of auditory storytelling. With releases like The Ancient Past (1988) and 3 Radio Plays (1991) on CNLF, Harkey sculpted soundscapes that were both process-driven and narrative-rich, inviting audiences to engage with the materiality of cassette culture. The dual iterations of Listen, Little Man (1982 on CNLF and 1983 on Calypso Now) resonate with her sculptural vocal techniques and the raw intimacy of lo-fi production. These tapes, distributed via a network of like-minded labels, capture the fractal essence of Harkey's craft — a continuum of evolving sound that defies conventional genre boundaries. Her collaborations, notably with Golden Counting on guitar, reflect a process of continuous evolution, where each musical gesture is an invitation to traverse the unseen corridors of auditory imagination.