Desert Spirit Walk

two pianos
written for Yihan Chen and Maxime Trechsel
fp — Yihan Chen/Maxime Trechsel, Milton Court Concert Hall (UK), 29-09-2023

‘lee shore’ is a piece for two pianos created in collaboration with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Keyboard Department. I worked with the excellent pianists Yihan Chen and Maxime Trechsel.

It was premiered alongside a performance of Meredith Monk’s ‘Ellis Island’ for two pianos with accompanying film. I selected a few harmonies from ‘Ellis Island’ — freeze frames — and arranged them freely. Whispers of Antonello de Caserta's ‘Amour m'a le cuer mis en tel martire’ also made their way in.

I was thinking about small, gentle gestures, lines, and listening through permeable textures.

If you would like to see the full video of ‘Ellis Island’ with ‘lee shore’ played attacca, please get in touch.

lee shore (2023)

Dans les sous sols de la cave

Steps inside you. Galaxy Anna

line it up

© 2025 Pantomime Riot

One two three four 
Pick me off this fucking floor.
Bizzies buzzing in the air 
Kids just sparked another flare
Telly’s spewing shite all day
Squeeze your dome like fucking clay 
Lights all on but no one’s in 
Scrambled head thrown in the bin
Two three four five 
Why the fuck am I alive 
Live to work work to live 
Spirit squeezed out through a siv 
Hold me up pin me down 
Turn my smile into a frown 
Waking early working late 
Till my fucking senses grate 

Oh no here’s insomniac again 
I better get me head down coz it’s 10 past ten
Four short sleeps for ten days flat 
Piss heads screaming murder from the 10th floor flat 

Three four five six 
Shitty wages in the mix 
Constant fucking overdraft 
Spinning circles on the shaft 
Tax for that and tax for this 
Fuck all left it takes the piss 
Change left over not a prayer 
Pockets empty cupboards bare
Four five six seven 
Will I really go to heaven 
Drop some coppers in the box 
Bow on down and join the flock 
Head just tumbled down the drain
Bang me down the ward again 
Psychological discharge 
Someone tell me who’s in charge

Oh no here’s insomniac again 
I better get me head down coz it’s 10 past ten
Four short sleeps for ten days flat 
Piss heads screaming murder from the 10th floor flat 

Five six seven eight
No control over your fate
Follow on in single file 
Year by year and mile on mile
Passport running out of date 
Let’s fuck off for it’s too late 
Down to Tesco for a smudge
Back to work now off we trudge
Six seven eight nine 
Oh fuck me is that the time
Screws keep turning straps are tight 
Eyes so dark can see no light
When’s the last time that we seen 
Rivers running forests green 
Felt the waves or took a hike 
Or did what the fuck we liked

Oh no here’s insomniac again 
I better get me head down coz it’s 10 past ten
Four short sleeps for ten days flat 
Piss heads screaming murder from the 10th floor flat

INSOMNIAC

A nice tribalistic techno house track that you can get deep with...

Melody of creation

808 STATE

Trenchfootnookieremix

Iranian-American composer/performer, London, UK — thinking about materiality, stasis, cycles, openness, economy of means — performing open/graphic/instructional scores, improvised drone — Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Laurence Crane, Paul Newland, and Paul Whitmarsh

lee shore (2023)

Darius Paymai

Related tracks