This article examines compositions that stage communion with spirits via technological means. Through analysis of four works, it proposes ‘séancing’ as both a framework for interpreting performances of technologically focused contemporary music, and as a credible methodology for new music composition. In Francesca Fargion’s Louise, gently falling (2023), Vochlea’s Dubler 2 conjures a spectral vocalist that energises both rehearsal and performance. In Laurence Osborn’s Counterfeits (Siminică) (2023), Augmented Instruments Lab’s TouchKeys help stage a theatrical séance that blurs intermundane boundaries. Nwando Ebizie uses Google’s LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) to explore questions of sapience, pedagogy, and possession in I Will Fix Myself (Just Circles) (2022). Zubin Kanga’s Metamemory (2023) makes use of PriSM SampleRNN to blur distinctions between real recorded performances and techno-hallucinogenic fictions
