I've been working on a deep connection between my electronic processing and live performances; something that's happening in conjunction with my work with Tangents as well as solo.
Part of this is building up some sets of effects chains in Ableton that I can control live, through foot and hand controllers, but often these are triggered on and then only manipulated at times – not quite what Keith Fullerton Whitman called "Playthroughs", and not particularly revolutionary in itself, but close enough, and a statement of intent.
It's taking some time for this stuff to settle, and there are pieces I've been tossing around in live sets for some time now which are slowly coalescing (each performance being an improvisation through a set of known effects patches).
Last year during lockdown I was asked by Michel Banabila to contribute a work at short notice for a compilation raising funds for Yemen, a country that's continually suffering horribly from civil war but somehow doesn't get enough international attention. I sat myself down and quickly recorded two "naïve playthroughs" to my laptop's drive, forcing myself to stop editorialising, not worry about out of tune notes here and there, and let something happen. Both tracks are imperfect, but honest and full of yearning, and maybe the line between deliberate glitches and imperfections, and between aching slides and misplaced fingers is hard to find!
Michel kindly took the first track for his compilation, which he titled To Yemen With Love الى اليمن بكل الحب:
Then this year I was asked by Mike Nigro to contribute a track to a compilation he was putting together of experimental Australian artists, having come to Australia from the US only around 2 years ago. He's collected a phenomenal selection of local artists, and I'm honoured to be part of it. I have been stupidly busy but realised I had the twin of the other naïve playthrough, and Mike has included it on Undercurrents:
You can also hear some of the live processing ideas I've been working on lately in this recent video of Tangents, recorded at the phenomenal Phoenix Central Park in June, just before everything stopped (again).
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