Image and Gravity

Recorded by Grand Electric: Mark Dancigers and Aaron Wunsch

Released on Bright Shiny Things in October 2024. 5 tracks.

Score PDF

In "Image and Gravity", the electric guitar and piano are mirror images of each other, playing music beginning in a constant rhythmic unison. These individual lines are themselves an image of the composite music, the piece as a whole. I was interested in the detailed and linear development of phrases, and the way that phrases of music can have a hypnotic quality and meaning. When the delay begins in the electric guitar, about two minutes into the piece, the sense of repetition is heightened with literal echoes, and these echoes start to populate the micro-level rhythmic space. The piece is divided into five sections on the album. It is designed as a continuous and immersive listening experience.

Melodic

for NOW Ensemble: flute, clarinet, electric guitar, piano, bass

Score PDF

In Melodic, the music contains individual melodies for the piano, flute, and clarinet. These melodic ideas are contrasted with unison melodies played by those three instruments together. The electric guitar and bass provide accompaniment and heterophonic textures, with the guitar using a rhythmic delay effect throughout. Large sections of the piece repeat, which provides a sense of structural clarity. The music has the feeling of continuous motion, and is a single movement with a flowing character.

Sunlight

for flute and piano

Score PDF

Sunlight was written for Michael Mizrahi and Alex Sopp’s residency at Antenna Cloud Farm. In Sunlight, I explore extensive unison writing for the flute and piano. The unison yields a unique color that emerges between the two instruments.