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dark is a way ii

by Jamie Monck

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Oliver Hickman
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BM24
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Mario Godoy
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cullynmurphy
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James May
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Tyler Kline
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vancegalloway
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moncketeer
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1.
hands, empty except 10:59
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2.
Yfir Sólbjartan Eyðisand 15:10
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about

In 2020-2021 I asked 6 composers to write me pieces for electric guitar and electronics for a project called, "dark is a way." The two pieces presented here are paired together because they both are inspired by experiences in nature.

"hands, empty except" is a piece for improviser and field recording. The recording captures 11 minutes of a rainy night in southwestern Ohio in the summer of 2020. Unlike pieces that incorporate samples or recordings into the score, in this work the field recording is essentially the score. It's a snapshot of a space in time. The role of the improviser is to position themselves within that space by their contribution, using their listening and a guiding template of the recording. At its core, "hands, empty except" asks the performer to invite us into their listening experience of this brief captured space.

I took this recording while on a trip to visit family in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a time when I, and everybody, was forced to reckon with the spaces we occupy in new and abrupt ways. After being stuck in one space for so long on the other side of the country, hearing this new sonic space was especially striking. Asking another musician to occupy this space through improvising actualizes this experience by positioning someone—something—new in this soundworld and observing how the space changes in turn.

- James May

"Yfir Sólbjartan Eyðisand" is an electro-acoustic composition of adjustable duration with an optional visual component. This piece is an attempt to capture and evoke a feeling of beauty and deliriousness. I had this vivid image and intense feeling of what it would be like to be trapped in a sunny Arctic desert during summer; with the sun just spinning around and never setting. It’s not such a hostile place to be in, I’ve driven across desertlike landscapes in Iceland during the summer and it’s very beautiful. But the perpetual quality of such a place, a landscape full of nothingness and not knowing the difference between night and day would surely blur the beauty through its deliriousness.

-Gulli Bjornsson

credits

released March 25, 2022

James May: hands, empty except
Gulli Bjornsson: Yfir Sólbjartan Eyðisand

Recorded November 13, 2021 in Champaign, Illinois.

Production, mixing, mastering: Andrew M. Rodriguez
Photo credit: Andrew M. Rodriguez
Guitar: Jamie Monck

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Jamie Monck Louisville, Kentucky

classical guitarist jamie monck (he/him/his) lives in louisville, ky.

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