Kaamos

Some small harvest (dec. 2022)
for mixed quartet and tape
ded. to A.D
premiere recording (feb. 2023) by Collective LoveMusic

Some small harvest

Working in collaboration with the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive, Microteaching Techniques was written for the festival of broadcasting, and includes archival material from “College With a Difference,” a film from 1970 that showcases technological advancements in teaching at Dundee College. This piece mixes warm, fuzzy, and lo-fi synth sounds with a jazz/rock/funk style double bass that gives this work a charming juxtaposition and keeps the listener on their toes. Previously composed and recorded works, including a vocal trio and piano act as additional source material giving the piece additional acoustic warmth and depth.

Microteaching Techniques

In 1983 filming of the Greenock based horror film Siren Song was abandoned due to an unexplained incident. In an audio experience, hear selections from the forgotten soundtrack. We seem to have encountered some unsettling audio anomalies in the recordings. Hopefully it will all be fine…

Like the film, the Siren Song soundtrack was sadly never completed but was unique in its use of synthesisers and sea shanties. Discover the connection between a local myth and this doomed film production. 

Credits:
Script - Paul Bristow 
Sound and music - Connor Bristow 
Vocals - Jodie Pollock

Featuring the voice talents of:
Historian - Katie Nawrath 
Radio Presenter - Paul Bristow 
Actor 1 - Kerr McLean 
Actor 2 - Leah Heffernan 
Director - Michael Maftean
Story Teller - Cath Bristow 
Siren - Jodie Pollock

Siren Song

version for 6 trombones and tuba

Friction is the force that resists motion in materials in contact. The piece explores many sounds and motions that act as a metaphor for various aspects surrounding friction such as a sense of kinetic energy and the resulting release of heat. In particular the piece references internal friction, the force resisting motion in solids which are undergoing deformation.

I imagine this process in the sliding trombone sounds which seem to push against some kind of imaginary sonic barrier. The materials become less and less stable as the musical atoms making up the piece distort and split up. Once separated the material reforms into new but related shapes. It is as though the new material shows us inside the original.

Friction is dedicated to Richard Greer and was composed as part of a cultural exchange between the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Paris Conservatoire and waspremiered by De Profundis in February in Paris. 

commissioned by Diaphonique, Franco-British Fund for Contemporary Music

De Profundis, trombone, tuba and percussion ensemble
Clément Carpentier, conducting

recorded at Saint-Louis des Invalides, Paris, February, 2. 2012
sound engineer : Alice Legros

Friction

O Evadare

Cop City

Pet Peeves

Jealous Disco (Premix)

Asa Mare

Artificial Blissful State (2016) for Baritone Saxophone and Electronics

Baritone Sax - Ian Finlay

Artificial Blissful State is a commentary on the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) within our daily lives. From voice-activated personal assistants on our mobile devices to home assistants, self-driving vehicles to online stores tracking our browsing history in an effort to ‘suggest’ things that might be of interest to us based on search terms and past transactions. 
Here an aggressive electronic track drives forward, unrelenting, unflinching, a steady pulse against which the saxophone plays their role, sometimes irregular and jarring, pushing against the tide of ‘progress’, sometimes slotting into place with ease, but never stemming the technological flow.

Artificial Blissful State (Baritone Sax and Electronics)

Masters student composer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. This page is a combination of music that I composed as My Wooden Leg, as well as music from my studies at MSU Denver and now at the RCS.

Microteaching Techniques

Music of Michael Maftean

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