Listen/purchase: Some Things We’ll Change by George Fetner
(Source: georgefetner.bandcamp.com)
Still Breaking is a about motion. The piece grooves but at times remains fragmented. As the title suggests, one might expect continuous and oftentimes predictable changes. Not only do these characteristics apply to the flow of the piece, but they also apply to the harmony, which regularly shifts from one chord to its chromatic compliment to a combination of notes from both. Still Breaking explores the consistency of change and the results of moving forward from expectation.
James Joyce’s All day I hear the noise of waters is saturated with musical imagery. Upon the first read of this short work, I knew it would be perfect to set to music. Voice, piano, and guitar are usual instruments used in songs, and I chose electric guitar to satisfy more of the timbral characteristics alluded to in the text. The poem energized me to make the text shimmer in a new way, enhancing the poem’s movement, sorrow, and wonder.
Beneath the Ice of Europa uses original sounds from Max/MSP and processed keyboard and guitar sounds. I used Pro-Tools recording software to manipulate and mix these sounds to create the fixed electronic track. Beneath the Ice of Europa contains a cross-stitching of tremolo sounds of different registers and timbres, shifting the pulse beneath a largely improvised guitar part. Unlike most of my electronic works, which avoid identifiable harmony, the piece embraces octatonicism throughout.
Europa is a moon of Jupiter covered in ice that may still contain life in its ocean beneath the surface. I felt like this title accurately portrayed the intense sounds of plunging into a deep, icy, alien ocean.