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Objects in mirror are closer than they appear is an exploration of timbre and gesture. I began my composition of the piece by performing and recording the same note (E5) on various guitars, using different articulations, bowed, picked, and fingers. Using GRM tools, iZotope RX, and Logic, the sounds were processed and reimagined. Some remained close to their original form, others transformed to the point of being barely recognizable as a guitar but retaining aspects of the original musical gesture. 

Timothy Morton’s Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World inspired the piece’s title. In his book, Morton uses the phrase which is printed on the rear-view mirror of every car sold in North America as a metaphor for the closeness of hyperobjects such as climate change, and nuclear waste, in the age of the Anthropocene. There is no longer an “over there” or an “away.” We find ourselves close, at times uncomfortably so, with the surrounding world.

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear premiered at the ASU Composition Studio Recital on November 15, 2020.

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As part of my research for my dissertation, I have been doing a series of field recordings focusing on the Acoustic Ecology of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. My approach in these recordings is to capture a moment of time in the unique habitats of the Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens eco-region, including marshes, pine/oak woodlands, and beaches. Rather than focus on a single sound source, my intention with the recordings capturing the sound of the environment as a whole: birds, insects, plants wind, and water.

I will be adding new recordings weekly on my Sound Cloud to create an online archive of the sounds of Summer and Fall in Cape Cod.

  • Harwich Conservation Trust
  • Marshland:
    Yarmouth Port, MA
  • Harwich Woods
  • Beach: Wellfleet, MA.
  • Harwich Conservation Trust

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In Place is an exploration of the sounds of home and the mental states that arise from being sheltered in place. The source material for the piece is recordings of pots, glasses, running water, and a dog barking at a broom. These familiar sounds are then altered in both size and texture. A major theme explored is the transformation of states of matter: solids become liquid, and liquids become frozen and crystalline. Through the (d)evolution of sounds, In Place explores the constant flux of perception of the external world and the internal worlds of thought, memory, and daydreams.

I recorded all sounds using a stereo pair of Røde M5 microphones. I used GRM Tools plugins, Spear, and RX to edit and process the sound creating a folder of sonic assets that I used to construct the piece. The piece was arranged and mixed using Reaper, IEM Ambisonic plugins. In Place follows a palindromic form based around material: ceramic, glass, water, straw/animal, water, glass, ceramic.

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January 17th is the opening of the exhibition I hear what you’re seeing at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. My composition Roadside Apparition will be featured in the exhibition alongside Laura Spaulding Best’s painting Refracted Oasis. The exhibition runs through April and viewers will be able to see paintings by Arizona based artists paired with newly commissioned music.

Roadside Apparition will also be released on Soundcloud for listeners outside of the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.

From the Scottsdale Center of the Performing Arts Website:

“What does a painting sound like? What do sounds look like?

The exhibition I hear what you’re seeing highlights seven paintings and drawings by Arizona artists, imaginatively narrated in sound by students from Arizona State University’s School of Music and ASU’s School of Arts, Media and Engineering.”

The opening reception for I hear what you’re seeing is on Friday, January 17, from 6:00–8:00 pm.

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I am proud to announce a really cool placement of my track “There and Back” in the Investigation Discovery show Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda. “There and Back” is featured in the score of episode 6 of season 7 “Jeckyll and Hyde”.

Homicide Hunters showcases major cases from the career of retired Colorado Springs Detective Joe Kenda. Full Episodes are available for streaming on the Investigation Discovery Website

“There And Back” from Songs of the North & There and Back by The Devin Arne Quintet (2009)