The Holladay Brothers, composers and multimedia artists, are pioneers of location aware experiences: they create and map music to a physical landscape, released as mobile apps, using GPS to dynamically alter the music as the listener explores their surroundings. They kick off Sonic Trails with a reprisal of Cover The Water, an original music composition by The Holladay Brothers birthed out of the pandemic limitations and during their artistic residency at Artpark in 2020. The initial project evolved into a larger collaboration between The Holladay Brothers, Sozo and Artpark who have partnered with the dynamic and diverse group of artists in this summer's Sonic Trails lineup to bring their compositions to life through the custom app.

The Buffalo News’ Jeff Miers had this to say after experiencing Sonic Trails: 

“In a flash, I felt the power of the land and the presence of those who had passed through it. Not in some Hallmark Channel, neatly wrapped-with-a-bow manner. But through a strong and deep mini-epiphany that was both exhilarating and profoundly sad.”

Available daily from dawn until dusk until December 3rd.

Download the FREE Artpark Sonic Trails app now!

Due to the amount of music contained within the experience we recommend downloading this app before you arrive at Artpark.

To enjoy your experience of Cover The Water, please arrive at the Lower Park (South 4th Street entrance) and proceed to the Lot C "Niagara 1979" painted parking lot.

Click for park map

Click here to see all Sonic Trails experiences available this year.

About The Holladay Brothers ...

Brothers Hays and Ryan Holladay create innovative music experiences that celebrate the act of discovery. With a shared background in composition and music production, their projects span a range of fields and disciplines and frequently invite user interaction, blurring the lines between performer and participant. From sound and video installations to mobile apps, their expansive body of work represents an intricate blend of art and technology that reimagines how we interact with and experience sound.

The Holladay Brothers have garnered critical acclaim as sound pioneers and multi-dimensional storytellers. The duo received early praise for their location-aware composition: music created and mapped to a physical landscape, released as mobile apps, using GPS to dynamically alter the music as the listener explores their surroundings. Their first production, “The National Mall,” a location-aware album mapped to the eponymous park in Washington, DC, was described by the Washington Post as “magical…like using GPS to navigate a dream” and was included in their list of the year’s top albums (a first for an app).

The Holladay Brothers have garnered critical acclaim as sound pioneers and multi-dimensional storytellers. The duo received early praise for their location-aware composition: music created and mapped to a physical landscape, released as mobile apps, using GPS to dynamically alter the music as the listener explores their surroundings. Their first production, “The National Mall,” a location-aware album mapped to the eponymous park in Washington, DC, was described by the Washington Post as “magical…like using GPS to navigate a dream” and was included in their list of the year’s top albums (a first for an app).

They’ve since gone on to create similar works for New York’s Central Park, SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, and other sites around the world, partnering with groups like IBM and the US State Department in the process. As a Senior TED Fellow, Ryan spoke about the project at the annual TED Conference in a talk that has been viewed more than a million times.Hays and Ryan continue to break new ground with the latest iteration of their live show, which showcases an interplay of old and new, utilizing an array of antique lamps retrofitted with LED bulbs, networked and synchronized with the music to create a duet of light and sound. Last year, they created new commissions for Dolby’s headquarters, the Hirshhorn Museum of Art and Disney’s Magic Kingdom, among others.

Their scoring and sound design work can be heard in television shows like ESPN’s 30 for 30 series and on podcasts such as Sincerely X, Constitutional and Reid Hoffman’s Masters of Scale. The Holladay Brothers have spoken at universities and institutions worldwide and have been featured in numerous media outlets including The New York Times, BBC World Service, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, WIRED and Fast Company.