Songwriting as a System: The Semantic Machine, a Song That Changes with 
the World Around You
Recorded songs are often defined by repetition: one structure, one set 
of lyrics, one definitive version. This talk proposes an alternative 
model of songwriting through Transmutable Music, an overarching term for 
music that can change in response to data, interaction, system 
behaviour, and contextual information, creating new kinds of listening 
experiences. The talk presents /The Semantic Machine/, a mobile-app artwork and 
song-based transmutable composition developed by Tracy Redhead in 
collaboration with Florian Thalmann. The project began at Queen Mary 
University of London as part of the FAST project and has since developed 
into a public-facing artwork and compositional case study for 
transmutable songwriting. /The Semantic Machine/ generates different 
versions of the same authored work according to the listener’s location, 
time of day, and weather. The talk will include a demonstration of the 
app, which will be available for download. Rather than functioning as an infinite generator, the work is composed 
through authored musical layers, vocal treatments, lyrical variants, and 
visual materials that can blend and recombine while preserving the 
identity of the song. Drawing on Redhead’s book /Interactive 
Technologies and Music Making: Transmutable Music/ (Routledge, 2024), 
the talk considers how songwriting can involve not only musical 
material, but also the design of responsive systems: how meaning shifts, 
how coherence is maintained, and how a recorded song can remain 
recognisably itself across change.

Tracy Redhead is a musician, composer, and researcher working across 
songwriting, recorded music, interactive technologies, and creative 
practice.  She is Senior Lecturer at the UWA Conservatorium of Music, 
where she teaches Electronic Music and Sound Design and Contemporary 
Popular Music. She is the author of /Interactive Technologies and Music 
Making: Transmutable Music/ (Routledge, 2024), and co-writer of /Born 
Global: Australian Music Exports/. Her research explores how recorded 
music can become dynamic, adaptive, and context-aware, while her 
practice as a recording artist informs her approach to songwriting and 
technological experimentation. Her creative work has been presented 
internationally at Ars Electronica and Music Tech Fest, and her current 
research investigates songwriting, data, and interactive forms of 
recorded music.

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