4Tay Records is proud to present Ritual, an electroacoustic suite for six performers, including the composer on cello. Instrumentation also includes bass and alto recorders, pitched and unpitched percussion, piano and organ and boutique electronics.
The composer writes, “The Ritual suite is, firstly, a contemplation of agnostic devotional repetition. There is a seeking within this music. Historically, principles of repetition have been anchors of both sacred and secular devotional practice in countless societies, and that history profoundly resonates with me. Every piece in the Ritual suite is built around contemplative repetition in some form. A second contemplation is also present, exploring the concept of “timelessness” within the chosen instruments and timbres themselves. For Ritual, I chose to use electronic instruments that are more timeless in this way – less tied and identifiable specifically to their historical eras of creation, but rather as colors and timbres to be freely used in their own right. As the electronic and acoustic mediums of the Ritual suite mix together, I hope to explore a sound-world that is in essence outside of time: disparate instruments taken out of their historically used contexts and transported into an othering soundscape, intended to allow myself, and others, a space to re-examine and center within these multiple layers of contemplation.”