Sensitive Chaos is the solo project of producer Jim Combs.

Pour water on the ground and it will quickly move away from you, either by being soaked into the earth or letting gravity pull it onward until it finds a level place or a pool. No two streams are exactly the same, each drop finds a unique route down the hill.

The music of Sensitive Chaos tries to follow a similar path. A few notes thrown into a sequencer or echo device repeat and tumble down, in and around each other until they pool together or soak again into the silence.

A typical Sensitive Chaos live performance starts from a blank slate; perhaps just a collection of sounds stored in a synthesizer and a mood. As notes are improvised into the machines, they repeat. More notes are added until chords and melodies coalesce. Variation is added to some of the patterns, and other patterns fade in and out.

For many, music is composed, recorded, and then performed. For Sensitive Chaos, music is composed live, from scratch, in front of an audience, and then brought back to the studio to arrange and record. The songs hope to convey the result of one form of spontaneously composed electronic music, music literally in the ether until it falls like rain through our fingers.

The project includes the instrumental talents of musicians Brian Good, Paul Vnuk, Jr, Tony Gerber, Christian Birk, Josie Quick, Ryan Taylor, Mitchell Sosebee, Monica Arrington, Kevin Spears, Dave Coustan, Bryan Hughes, Talya Sabra, Greg Hurley, Otso Pakarinen, Tim Walters, and John McNicholas.

Albums have also included the work of visual artists Charles Keiger, Demi Pietchell, Andrew Lee, and Eleanor Grosch.

A core component of Sensitive Chaos compositions is live looping improvisation, and most songs heard on the albums have their genesis in live performances or from live recordings. This unique approach to the music has endeared audiences and radio programmers around the world, with airplay across the U.S., Europe, the U.K., and Australia, including many “Best Of” nods over the years.

Sensitive Chaos has performed nearly 100 shows including multiple City Skies Festivals, Different Skies Festivals, electro-music Festivals, and Nophest Festivals.

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