music from a dark room
This piece is about the effect that space can have on mental state.
The music depicts a confined and muted environment. I had a specific place in mind when I wrote this, one I felt interminably caught in. This confinement leads to a kind of musical recursive thinking within the piece. The same ideas cycle back on one another, trampling over one another so that none are able to fully flourish. The music, even when slow and quiet is anything but calm; creating more anxiety than anything from its unanchored tone.
At a few points, a lighter timbre (always with the same pitch E-natural) finally breaks its way into the texture, but instead of relieving this grey and stagnant timbral world, it throws it into harsh relief. This light appears with greater and greater frequency but is not allowed to take the foreground until toward the end of the piece when it completely overtakes. At this point the E-natural timbre is overpowering and saccharine rather than a release from the oppressive music that came before.
June, 2019 | New York, NY
score & audio
