This is a serious, yet occasionally witty, electronica opera that manages to conjure the ambience of late night conversations on the internet. A single countertenor wanders around a room lit by screens, singing words that have been collected from online conversations, a form of verbatim libretto which reveals rare moments of fun between appeals for connection that are answered by an electronic score. Short and concise, the production uses minimal scenography to isolate the performer. If the needy words are at first amusing, they gradually descend into much darker emotions. There are shades of the renaissance’s fashion for lachrymose songs of melancholia, but the glitching music transports the mood into the present moment.

Morten Grove Frandsen is a remarkable and very expressive singer and when he responds to his own voice through recording, the effect is electrifying. The score by Matilde Böcher and Asger Kudahl explores a richness possible even within a limited sound palette, evoking the intimacy of chamber music and the crackling rush of modernity. Laughing Out Lonely makes an argument for the power of experimental music. 

Laughing Out Lonely, Summerhall, until 30 August, 1.15pm & 2.15pm; picture: Tom Ingvardsen.