This is a very beautiful, nicely crafted piece. The outer pentatonics and inner chromaticism reminds me that it is time for breakfast! Terrific string writing and a really fine performance! I can't imagine the devil asking a question without already knowing the answer. The piece seems more faith and temptation, but I don't know the reference. Love the glissandos against the pentatonics, (Oriental-style) especially the artificial harmonic version at the end. Bravo!

I made you a mixtape

We are thrilled to announce 
Lotic will release her new album 'Water' on October 29th. Today the lead single from the record "Come Unto Me" is streaming online, with a video directed by Matt Lambert. 

Water is available to pre-order on blue marbled vinyl or classic black, plus CD and of course digitally.
https://hth.lnk.to/LOTIC

Regarding the video, Lotic says: "1.8 million Africans died on the Middle Passage; their bodies were thrown into the Atlantic. Had their cells been able to adapt to this new ecosystem, and thrive and multiply, perhaps a glorious new culture and history would have been possible."

Watch "Come Unto Me."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dndu89xJaPE

Water

Come Unto Me

LP / CD / DIGITAL

Lotic - Come Unto Me

Robin Meiksins, flutes
Phil Pierick, saxophone
Alejandro Acierto, bass clarinet
Daniel Baer, piano

**concert recording mixed with original electronics**
Ear Taxi Festival: Celebrating LGBTQ Musicians in Chicago
September 19, 2021
Elastic Arts (www.elasticarts.org)
Chicago, IL

quiet down (2021)

'riversong' was written during my year as Composer-In-Residence with the Arizona State University Wind Ensemble. The piece is inspired by the San Marcos River, a spring-fed river which begins in San Marcos, Texas. I lived near the headwaters for a few years, and swam there often. Through the wind ensemble, I tried to depict my many overlapping experiences of the river, different aspects of it that flow through my memory. Some of these ideas include: sunlight glinting on water, rippling textures, a rush of multiple currents, letting things pass you by, and peaceful moments of stillness and suspension around river bends.

Premiered by the ASU Wind Ensemble, directed by Kristen Zelenak, on April 6, 2022.

riversong

Knots seeks the dissolution of discrete sonic elements. Several musical parameters are treated as spectra and materials are stretched, explored, tangled and knotted together. 

This piece was composed in collaboration with bassist Kyle Motl during 2021.

https://www.kylemotl.com/

Knots

~a sonic exploration of the microbiome around plant roots~

For about a decade, I have thought of composing as a form of sonic gardening. The processes are very similar in that I cultivate ecosystems of interrelated parts, whether in sound or in the soil. My interests in creating sonic ecosystems and in learning more about environmental issues motivated me to research soil health and the rhizosphere, the microbiome around a plant’s root system. As part of my dissertation project I composed a piece titled The Rhizosphere inspired by the processes and behaviors found in the rhizosphere for percussion sextet of about 8 minutes in duration. The piece explores the dynamic flux, temporal multiplicity, and interrelationships of this underground microbiome.

This piece was commissioned by and is dedicated to Simone Mancuso and the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble. The Rhizosphere was premiered on April 21, 2022.

The Rhizosphere

Chicago Composers Orchestra
Allen Tinkham, conductor
St. James Cathedral
Chicago, IL
April 29, 2023

If you’re wondering what electroclash artist Casey Spooner could possibly have to do with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and his song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn, then compare some of the text of “Das Himmlische Leben”, one of the Wunderhorn songs:

"We revel in heavenly pleasures,
So we shun all that is earthly,
No worldly turmoil
Is heard in Heaven,
Everyone lives in sweetest peace;
We lead an angelic existence,
And yet we are perfectly happy,
We dance and leap,
We skip and sing,
Saint Peter in Heaven looks on…” (trans. Richard Stokes)

…to some of “Butterscotch Goddam”, a 2018 song by Fischerspooner (Casey Spooner’s old band):

“I jump off the mountain, I hang off the cliff 
Listen to you shower sing love scene shift 
Light it up with your weedy spliff 
Lovers tiff, dance around, plead the fifth 
Kiss me…” 
“I brought you sake and plums from Kyoto 
Gift shop stickers from the Bishōnen show… 
And that is just one idea of heaven…”

I find “Butterscotch Goddam” difficult to describe as anything other than an alternate queer universe - the near-nonsense lyrics, the dystopian erotic imagery and sexuality of the music video. And I’m reasonably sure St. Peter and the other saints in the Wunderhorn text - St. Cecilia, St. Martha, St. Ursula - wouldn’t exactly be the biggest fans of Fischerspooner’s work, of disco or electroclash music. But both of these texts are making the same fundamental promise: an escape to paradise.

I know I’m not only speaking for myself when I say that LGBTQ people, no matter what their sexuality or gender identity, struggle to feel safe in the world today. This fear comes from atrocities past and present, such as the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL in 2016 and the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting in 2022, or arson attacks on New Orleans gay bars in the early 1970s. But it also comes from ongoing threats, like the right wing moral panic surrounding transgender people today, and over four decades of HIV/AIDS. "One idea of heaven" is an attempt to create a joyous inward retreat from a disjunct, nightmarish reality of violence, hatred and chaos, one where music and imagery as incompatible as “Das Himmlische Leben” and “Butterscotch Goddam” can coexist as they provide the escapes they both promise.

one idea of heaven (2023)

Quartetto di Cremona with Nolan Pearson, piano
Recorded live at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre
May 03, 2013 at the Intimacy of Creativity Festival.


The Devil's Nine Questions: Mvt 1 - Viscous

In concert 5/3/2014 at Center for New Music, San Francisco.

Asha Srinivasan — Dviraag

Commissioned by the Aeolus String Quartet
Composed by Steven Snowden

From the Aeolus Quartet's 2012 album *Many-Sided Music*
Digital release date: March 06, 2012


Program Notes:
Appalachian Polaroids was initially inspired by the controversial portrait photography of Shelby Lee Adams (b. 1950). Though sometimes criticized for perpetuating the hillbilly stereotype of rural Appalachia, I feel that his photographs often illuminate the quiet resilience of these remote mountain communities. As a native of the Ozark Mountain countryside, I have always felt a strong connection with my neighbors to the East. In Appalachian Polaroids, I chose to create my own musical portrait of the unique mix of hardship and joy that comes with living an isolated rural life. 

This piece begins with a 1976 field recording of Sheila Kay Adams (no relation to Shelby Lee) singing the popular folk song Black is the Color in Asheville, North Carolina. The quartet quietly enters as an integrated component of the recording, playing with the wood of their bows to create a slightly noisy effect, similar to the tape hiss present in the old equipment used to record Sheila's stunning voice. Their sound gradually becomes more brilliant until the group finally emerges with crowing figures reminiscent of Appalachian fiddle playing. However, they also carry with them remnants of Sheila's own unique singing style. These attributes, (which include sliding/scooping to and from certain pitches and a subtle yodeling effect at the ends of phrases) expand as the piece progresses and eventually exert their influence on large-scale aspects of melody, rhythm and even form.


Appalachian Polaroids

Live recording by Orkest de Ereprijs at the 30th Young Composers Meeting 2024.

Big thanks to Orkest de Ereprijs:

Jacqueline van Brink - piccolo flute • Marije van den Berg
- flute • Femke van den Bergh - bass clarinet • Chloë
Abbott - trumpet • Jeroen van Dijk - French horn •
Beppie Schalken - trombone • Peter de Hoop -
trombone • Erik-Jan de With - saxophone • Sabine
Laar - saxophone • Dineke Griek - tuba • André
Groen - percussion • Sjors van der Mark - electric
guitar • Herman Lamers - electric bass • Aljosja
Buijs - piano • Aspasia Nasopoulou - artistic leader

Conducted by Gregory Charette.

Artwork: Rågen by Märta Måås-Fjetterström

Dots

“Until We Started Talking About It” was inspired by five text phrases:
Rest every so often
What would he think?
Can you come with me to this?
Is it because it’s me?
Until we started talking about it
 
Using these texts, I determined their approximate rhythms and inflections, and used them as generative material for the piece. The rhythms are not exact translations, and move through many transformations throughout, but the essence of each phrase is evoked when it sounds. Neither the performers nor the audience necessarily need to know which musical phrase corresponds to which text. The phrase, “until we started talking about it,” weaves its way throughout the first half, and then forms the basis of the final groove.
Performed by: Brian Bethea, soprano saxophone; Jonathan Kierspe, alto saxophone; Yi-Chia Tu, tenor saxophone; Neal Postma, baritone saxophone


Until We Started Talking About It

Recorded by the Bel Cuore Quartet for their 2017 album Splashing The Canvas
Composed by Steven Snowden

Splashing The Canvas

Speed Studies

Speed Studies - Bel Cuore Sax Quartet

Recorded by Invoke for their "American Postcards" project.

Tent Revival

Remix 
Stems from Bent Knee's Shiny Eyed Babies
Courtney Swain - Vocals
Gavin Wallace Ailsworth - Drums

Oh my daughters, oh my sons

Schuyler Slack - Cello
Recorded on Oct 7, 2019 
In Your Ear Studios - Richmond, VA

Find out more about this piece here:
http://www.stevensnowden.com/portfolio/this-mortal-frame/

This Mortal Frame: Mvt. 2 - The Crossing at Aquia Creek

Laurana Wheeler Roderer, violin 1
Esther Witherell, violin 2
Brooke Mickelson, viola
Dana Hurt, cello

This piece was originally written to be paired with Desert Rain God by Louisa McElwain, and was inspired by the painting’s subject and use of texture and color. The monsoon’s shifting winds disrupt the rain shadow over the desert, bringing summer storms with fluctuating air pressure and sudden downpours.

Desert Rain God

Composer, tinkerer, found sound enthusiast.
<a href="http://stevensnowden.com"></a>

The Devil's Nine Questions: Mvt 1 - Viscous

Steven Snowden

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