My current work – a season in life probably stretching from my second year of grad school to now – ranges in breadth and depth as I explore [mostly] the ideas of Musique concrète with a few rabbit trails in other directions scattered about. I enjoy working within this genre for many reasons – primarily the freedom it allows. Some of the ‘purists’ think that we should separate the sounds from their sources to make them completely abstract musical ideas – similar to the way an instrumental melody [i.e. sound] represents not the instrument but something else. An emotion, a story, a character, etc. While I’m not opposed to that idea [I've heard some amazing works that are based on it] I believe that at times, when it benefits the piece, leaving the sound attached to an identifiable source can strengthen the story being told and give the audience something to relate to [does this make me an electronic-folk composer? Folk-a-tronic??]. That’s why in pieces like The Suicide of Freddie Mac and Construct:destrucT the sounds are readily identifiable and represent the sources they come from. They tell a story. Sounds in our every day world represent things. Why should we not use that in our music?
If this type of music is new to you, listen to it like you would a story. Relate to it as such and experience it.
