“My brain often doesn’t let me get from A to B without stopping at A.1 or A.2 along the way,” explains saxophonist and JFund awardee Shelley Washington. In the same way that Dawn of Midi transition from one section to another using only rhythm, Washington’s pieces move along at a syncopated pace. “I like collage work. I feel like my brain is a definite patchwork.”
Read More“There are a lot of weird parts to composing in solitude. Sometimes I’ll be on the subway reading the lines over and over again, and something clicks. Then I’ll go into a room where I’m teaching a kid ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ and one lyric suddenly makes more sense. That kind of space and solitude I’m writing about is sort of a fantasy.”
Read MoreParticularly notable about Aether is its focus on texture in place of melody. “I find that melody often functions as a musical equivalent to language, it mimics speech in a certain way that communicates ideas, narratives, and emotion.” This sentiment echoes throughout the album’s four tracks. Just like Bertucci used the bunker as a studio, Metal Aether uses the studio as a major component of the recording. Beyond the bases of environment and timbre, not much else exists in the albums vacuum. In turn, one could call the album minimalist. Dig your fingers deeper into the meditative spaces, and you’ll find almost the opposite to be true.
Read More“I like music where people aren’t conscious of the fact that they’re mixing things up,” Healy explains about his ideals in bending audience expectation. There aren’t many young people that are content with sticking to one genre, so it’s natural that the relatively young Healy is able to stay grounded in a handful of traditions. If you let him get you on his wavelength, ShoutHouse becomes one of New York’s finest interdisciplinary acts.
Read MoreLos Angeles-based Jerome Fund awardee Leaha Maria Villareal talks about musician relationships with tranquility in her voice. She composes music for Hotel Elefant, an ensemble that takes on the difficult task of representing music from living composers. “‘Modern Music’ is already solidified,” she explains. “There’s a canon for it, but it hasn’t yet included works that are being written today. So, how do we support the contemporary music of our colleagues?”
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