THIS USED TO BE SOMETHING ELSE (II)
for saxophone, percussion, and performative electronics
Phonetic text scores originally created for exploratory drone improvisation using electric guitar, ebow, and synthesizers are reimagined for saxophone and percussion. Performers interpret short fragments of text as sound, ranging from recognizable vowels to abstract groups of letters, creating textures that offer a different perspective on the idea of the drone.
Performed by Popebama (www.popebama.com) at the University of Virginia, February 2023.
Erin Rogers: saxophone + electronics | Dennis Sullivan: percussion + electronics
E[MYR]GENCE.200
for plate tectonics, evolution, extinction, and climate
E[MYR]GENCE.200 (2022) tracks the last 200 million years of Earth’s geological history—from the breakup of Pangaea to the present—at a scale of 4s = 1 myr (4 seconds = 1 million years).
The piece consists of an 8-channel drone (electric guitar + ebow), with each channel representing a major tectonic plate. Each channel shifts incrementally out of phase and tuning with the others based on the average velocity of the tectonic plate it represents. This evolving drone is punctuated by significant evolutionary, extinction, and climate events in the form of composed musical vignettes created using tape-music techniques and analog synthesis. At the scale of the piece, the last 300,000 years of human history (the time of the earliest known homo sapiens) occur in its final seconds, highlighting humanity’s place in geological timescales.
THE WAY BACK
The Way Back (2020) is the result of an ongoing process of reconnection—navigating out of debilitating pandemic-induced stasis and rediscovering moments of joy in the creative process. It also embodies the re-forging of my relationship with my primary instrument—electric guitar. Video below, audio here.
BESŹELCOMA & DRONETICS, VOL. 1
Besźelcoma (2019)
An album of improvised electronic drone works created from graphic and text scores inspired by China Miéville’s The City & The City, using electric guitar, ebow, Morse code, and a custom drone synthesizer I built in Max/MSP.
Listen/watch below, read more here: Besźelcoma PDF
Dronetics, Vol. 1 (2020)
These pieces were created using phonetic text scores of my own invention. To read these text-sounds as one would read words involves interpreting an approximation or abstraction of those sounds through an instrument or sound source.
Besźelcoma (Redux) | Soundwave Festival 3.0
This performance was filmed for and broadcast as part of Soundwave Festival 3.0 on October 3rd, 2020.
