Happy Hallowe'en!

Stop The Press!

Sufjan is back!




















On the stereOoOoOoOoo...

Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP/The Age of Adz
Caribou - Swim
Helado Negro - Music For Memory
Twin Sister - Vampires With Dreaming Kids EP/Color Your Life EP
Deerhunter - Halycon Digest

The Seven Deadly Sins

In my two-year stint at Kingston University, I have been working on a programmatic work for large chamber ensemble in seven movements. The subject’s focus, inclusively titled 'The Eye of God: A 21st Century Reflection on the Seven Deadly Sins', is the portrayal of immorality of the human spirit in modern society, specifically the sins of Lust, Greed, Pride, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony and Envy, as predicated by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century.

The piece below (Gula) exhibits a taste of the series, written for prepared piano. This piece represents gluttony; the act of food comsumption. A stand-out feature of Gula in its performance is my decision to use 'dry pasta' as mutes on the piano's strings. Musical influences that have shaped these compositions, highlight my engagement with 20th and 21st century compositional techniques, cultural inspirations, and concepts that harbour the methods of my own musical idiom. My inspirations stem from historical figures, such as composers, writers, artists, theologians and thinkers of past and present, whom have shaped the popular images of this Christian doctrine.

The finished work is yet to be performed in a live environment (except Gula). I have two/three movements set to be performed by the Kingston Chamber Orchestra in March 2011 at the Parish Church in Kingston-upon-Thames... this includes Avaritia (greed), Ira (wrath), and Superbia (pride) - a 12-minute contemporary study in extended and postmodern techniques. One mentionable aspect about this piece is my use of a thunder tube, a drum-like instrument, with drone-like qualities.

Gula, for prepared piano