Punishment - Diabolic [Empyreann Remix]

Premiered 10/8/2023 - Auer Hall at Indiana University

Speaker: Sy Anderson
Flute: Lilah Senibaldi 
Oboe: Hanna Noughani 
Clarinet: Paige Stafford 
Bass Clarinet: Renae Dishman 
Bassoon: Jacob Auchman 
Horn: Andre Richter 
Trumpet: Barton Sopata 
Trombone: Robert Cardon-Wake 
Tuba: Daniel Cox 
Percussion 1: Mihail Babus 
Percussion 2: Braedon Bomgardner 
Piano: Josh Catanzaro 
Violin I: Will Mayhew 
Violin II: Arthur Trælnes 
Viola: Maeve Whelan 
Cello: Thea Dardanis 
Double Bass: River Makinney
Conductor: Jae Hwan Lee
Audio Engineer: William Heilbraun

          “The Butterfly” is an experiment in sonic/literary meaning. It is our inclination as humans to assign meaning to an abstract idea that we find somehow emotionally engaging, but, especially in music, there is often no greater meaning. It is merely something to which we may have an emotional response, but nothing more. The arts exist on a scale of most to least abstract: Architecture and textiles are almost completely abstract, while poetry and prose are not so at all. This is because, in the language arts, the express goal is to convey meaning. Every word in itself carries a connotation that is contextualized by accompanying text. Even the writers of nonsense, such as Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, invent words and phrases in order to enhance a nonsensical meaning, but a meaning, not to mention a narrative, nonetheless. There are also those who write poetry from a string of completely made up sounds that convey absolutely no meaning beyond that contained in the tone of its delivery—the use of verbal, conversational sound to achieve the abstract.
        “The Butterfly," however, employs aurally pleasing sentence clauses tied together using poetic devices (juxtaposition, alliteration, personification, etc.) and negative capability in order to create complex imagery that completely lacks any conceivable narrative or greater meaning. That means there are no metaphors, symbolism, allegory, allusion, or moral—just images aided by sound flashing before an audience. Inevitably, each individual listener will independently contextualize the words, creating a story that is completely different not only from that of the other listeners, but also the composer. 
        This is done in one of three ways: constructing a nonsensical, meaningless poem and then writing music to enhance it (text painting); composing music and then constructing a poem to enhance it (what I call “music painting”); and taking the clauses of already existing lines and stacking them on top of one another to create new ideas. Just as words can have different connotations, the musical motives employed throughout the piece can denote different ideas or images depending on the text that accompanies it. 
        So the audience finds itself with a paradox: The greater meaning of this work is that this work has no greater meaning. 

The Butterfly (2023)

In a Holt of Giant Hatpins (2025) was premiered by Thornton Edge under the direction of Donald Crockett with soloist Alessia Jensen on Tuesday, April 15th 2025 at 7:30 pm in Newman Recital Hall at the University of Southern California.

Thornton Edge:
Soprano: Alessia Jensen
Flute/Piccolo: Luke Blancas
Oboe: Gibson Mahnke
Clarinet: Harrison Chiang
Bassoon: Christopher Lee
Horn: Daniel Halstead
Percussion 1: Marcos Salgado
Percussion 2: Marcos Rivera
Harp: Zoe O'Shaughnessy
Piano: Benjamin Beckman
Violin I: Laura Gamboa
Violin II: Maya Irizarry-Lambright
Viola: Nico Valencia
Cello: Ella Kaale
Bass: Julien Henry
Conductor: Donald Crockett
Audiovisual: Alex Melzer (recording.LA)

Program Notes:
Music is perhaps the most abstract art form, which has confused and upset audiences for centuries.

Composers have thought up a good many ways to combat this, from Beethoven who denotes mood and character, to the overtly programmatic music meant to literally represent a narrative. What these have in common is the use of concrete art forms (such as text), which are used to guide the listener and give the music direction.

This begs the question: if text can be used as the narrative basis to make an abstract piece less abstract, can music be utilized as a springboard to employ a concrete art form in an abstract manner? “In a Holt of Giant Hatpins” uses music to justify text. With the exception of the first line, all of the text was written either after the music or in conjunction with the music. This means that any resulting narrative (if one exists) is dictated solely by the demands and development of the music. In this particular approach to “music painting”, the text makes semantic sense. The words, at least to me, reflect the music. The beauty of the text is rooted primarily in the sound of each word or stanza as it relates to the words and stanzas on either side of it. The result is a fantastical experience, exploring a world as unique and sprawling as the music.

“In a Holt of Giant Hatpins” is about nothing in particular. Any meaning extrapolated from the text or the music has equal origins in the mind of the listener.

In a Holt of Giant Hatpins (2024)

vocals: J.D. Felix
Written & Performed by L.A. (fridjiit) Ferguson

Dance of the Prozac Zombies [Take 3]

Palo Santo is the opening signal flare of a bigger campaign built on one blunt truth: healing is absurd.
The track pulls from your real therapy sessions, your ritualistic creativity, and that “talk folks down the road of Radical Acceptance” energy. Sonically, it leans woozy and warm—something between a mantra, a confession, and a cleansing.

Palo Santo

Sublimitam Violentia - Self Titled Demo MMXXV

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DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Part of Hospital Cuck Chair, EP released 2025

Sunrise, MFer

A gentle ironic escape. A man between borders, laws, and roads, walking into quiet freedom with worn shoes.

SILENT HEARTS: Letters to Chaplin is a cinematic concept album inspired by the films and inner world of Charlie Chaplin.
This is not a soundtrack. These are quiet letters written through dust, light, hunger, love, silence, and fragile humanity.

Each track is a small silent story — about a little man inside a big world.
About poverty that still knows tenderness.
About laughter that hides pain.
About love that remains unseen.
About applause that comes too late.

This album was created as a single continuous emotional film — 12 frames, 12 confessions, 12 moments between shadow and light.
No loud statements. No heroes. Only a human breathes behind the mask.

For those who still hear silence.
For those who still believe in tenderness.

SILENT HEARTS: Letters to Chaplin

Wrong Place, Right Shoes

Nobody Epic - Fisherman’s Nightmare

Music for a flow state.

All music is performed at time of recording, captured live and minimally processed. This is a snapshot of creation at a moment in time

Saarcasticus.bandcamp.com

I'M NOT HUMAN.
NOT HAVING FUN.

Avant-garde/experimental producer and sometimes vocalist

I am Nobody Epic.
In my tracks lives what we all hide: fear, anger, the quiet chaos inside.

I never studied music.
I just listen to the world — its noise, its pain, its breath — and return it as sound.

No rules. No lessons.
Only what burns inside, and it will break through on its own.

I don’t need likes or fame.
What matters is that it exists. Let it reach those who are ready.

What emerges in silence finds those who listen with their hearts.

I am Nobody Epic.
If my track moves you — it means you feel. You are alive. Like me.

"🎧 TorGio Records • Leya & AI • Ambient, Psychedelic, Soul • Mindful music for every mood • SoundCloud-first".

i was killed, then i was alive again, now i am singing

Composer, hornist, and wordist whose works blend narratives with the abstract to explore the complexity, beauty, and humor of the illogical.

New tracks tagged #Absurd