Touching from a Distance: Sonic Material and Embodied Crosstalk in the Electronic Soundtrack

In its fusion of modalities, cinema is ‘touching from a distance’ as per Joy Division’s 'Transmission', evidenced by the often richly haptic multimodal metaphors provided by its integration of auditory and visual materials as well as the conceptual ‘logics’ underpinning their combination. This paper builds upon a framework proposed by Melvin and Bridges (2024) for interrogating the role of sound within the communicative experience of cinema’s multimodal spaces and narrative aesthetics via metaphors which are embodied and material. More specifically, the paper will seek to advance the model of crosstalk, a development of Fauconnier and Turner’s (1998) theory of conceptual blending which considers conceptual metaphor as an integrating space for multiple, often conflicting components, by exploring its application within cinematic soundtracks that employ overtly electronic (synthesized, and/or heavily processed) sonic and musical materials, notably, Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow’s score for 'Annihilation' (dir. Garland 2018).