the direction of a tree
open instrumentation and objects, electronic playback, and home audio electronics
20' , 2019
This piece is about distance/absence, intimacy/presence. It is about things that are, even when they are not; and things that are not, even when they are. It is the light of a star, the transparency of a leaf, the growth of a tree. Performers engage in both individual and collective processes of score- and sound-making that involve translation/translucence, copying/covering, and (dis)embodiment. The performance is a projection of this world assembled of bodily, instrumental, and environmental sound.
The piece exists as a performance and is not accurately represented as recording. The following recording, therefore, is merely a documentation.
Performers are intermingled with audio speakers. The speakers play back recordings collected by the performers. In and around these are speaker cones, covered in leaves, vibrating at sub audible frequencies causing the leaves to rustle.
Premiered by LAEE + guests at Automata in Los Angeles, CA in January, 2020
Zaq Kenefick, harmonica
Cristina Lord, keyboard
Marcus Carline, guitar
Garrett Wingfield, saxophone
Liz Chavez, violin