Words cannot proxy the experience of seeing and hearing [2021]
The title refers to a line from the libretto of Harry Partch's The Delirium of Fury (1964): words cannot proxy the
experience of seeing and hearing. Building on this premise, the composition merges high culture and low culture into
a postmodern fusion, a bridge between what is considered elevated and what is deemed banal.
The compositional process followed the associative paths of the YouTube algorithm: from multiphonics and extended
instrumental techniques to German slam poetry videos, including Julia Engelmann's viral One Day / Reckoning Song (2013).
The musicians were encouraged to explore new sound worlds by altering or extending their instruments. The work was
conceived entirely within the digital age and accepts its rules: whether the fusion of these contexts succeeds is
for the audience to decide.