Lucrecia Dalt, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Laurie Spiegel are among 12 artists to have contributed to a special compilation through Barcelona-based label Modern Obscure Music. Each track lasts around 30 seconds, with the whole release lasting just six minutes and thirty seconds.

PRSNT is a musical statement about on how we engage with music in the 21st century. The concept was devised by Modern Obscure’s Christian Lopez and Pedro Rufi, who read a study identifying that the overwhelming volume of instantly accessible information online is shortening attention spans and altering how audiences engage with music digitally. Their curiosity about the state of online consumption developed further on discovering that around a third of all listeners using digital platforms skip to the next track, within the first 30 seconds of playing.

So on PRSNT, each musician was given a challenge to create engaging compositions with real artistic merit, inside the confines of a shortened span. Each artist has interpreted the brief differently, resulting in an intriguing blueprint for the potential future of digital music. Could abbreviated micro-compositions satisfy, inspir,e and nourish like their longer counterparts?

Kelman Duran, Lafawndah, Raül Refree, Visible Cloaks, and more have also contributed tracks.

Tracklist:

01. Laurie Spiegel
02. Pedro Vian & Pierre Bastien
03. Lyra Pramuk
04. Chassol
05. Nicolas Godin & Pierre Rousseau
06. Pascal Comelade
07. Visible Cloaks
08. Raül Refree
09. Lucrecia Dalt
10. Kelman Duran
11. Lafawndah
12. Ryuichi Sakamoto

PRSNT is scheduled for May 7 release. meanwhile, you can pre-order here and stream Lyra Pramuk’s “Cage,” Visible Cloaks’ “Lifeworld,” and Lucrecia Dalt’s “cosa” via the player below.