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CD recording of 13 songs

This research investigated new approaches to songwriting, drawing on ideas which intersect both classical and pop genres, such as the relationship beween linear and cyclical structures, notions of repetition, and the role of pre- and post-production techniques. Over a two-year period the performers (the composer – electronics, piano, keyboard; Elisabeth Nygård – voice; Natalie Rosario/Zoe Martlew – cello; Pete Wilson – bass guitar; Rob Millet – percussion) explored a series of creative strategies: improvisation leading to sound-file editing and re-composition; composed material provoking improvisation; live computer sound-processing within group improvisations and composed sections; post-production editing as a compositional technique.

This process raised further research questions:

(a) “Can a mix of scored materials, improvisation, and electronic manipulation yield a coherent work?”

Each song approaches this differently, weighting the elements in new proportions. The most sophisticated results often seemed to be achieved by combining simple, disparate elements in unusual ways, playfully experimenting with alignment and dynamic blending.

(b) “Can modal and atonal elements co-exist?”

Both these tonal palettes were explored and by combining them improvisationally and electronically they were re-energised, creating a harmonic field in which contemporary classical and pop elements could elide.

(c) “Can text (both English and Norwegian), wordless extemporization, conventional vocalising and extended techniques be fused into a coherent vocal part?”

By treating text as a texture, either through vocal techniques or by audio editing, the meaning of words could be obscured. Made-up words formed a bridge between extended vocal techniques and text-setting in which meaning was important. In ‘Pure’, the opening song on the album, many of these techniques were combined; it acts as a doorway into what follows, into songs and not-songs.

The finished work, a collection of 13 songs, was performed on 23rd June 2008 in the Brighton Soundwaves Festival; the CD was released in November 2008.