Artist's Statement
I compose and perform musical pieces intended to recreate emotions and experiences. My main tools are my voice and piano although I do sometimes use and exploit cello. I find the cello to be a metaphor for my perception of the human race, capable of such beautiful tones, always with a timbre of sadness, yet also capable of such horrid and rancid sounds. My pieces are reflective of my inner turmoil as well as my observations of the world around me.
I aim to take the audience on an emotional journey and assist them in experiencing feelings they rarely dare to explore. What makes my creations art is that they cannot be appreciated in a casual listening environment or as background music. The audience must commit 100% of their attention in order to fully appreciate and comprehend my work. This is a great challenge in the modern day's habit of using music, television, computers and phones as devices to distract us from any and all daily tasks, which ultimately obstructs us from ever giving our devoted attention to any one thing at a time.
My most satisfying piece of work is “Rosayln” from Between 10 and 2. Based on a night terror I had that caused me to wake screaming in the night, I used nothing but dry, unaffected cello, my voice and my words. I sought to create a piece of experimental music that elicits such a strong reaction that the listener cannot make it to the end, as I begged myself to wake up from the dream that played in my head like a film.
My most recent work, Formaldehyde, features a series of five acrylic-on-canvas paintings, one for each individual song and a final painting to define the theme of the collection: broken, rotting hearts. In my paintings, I am most drawn to using texture and vibrancy (or a lack of vibrancy) to convey emotions.
For my next project, I am continuing to implement the visual element of paintings and returning to my experiments with dream recreation. Since I was a small child, I have been fascinated by dreams. Although I do not believe that dreams are tools of prognostication, I do feel that we can all learn a great deal about ourselves by reflecting on the things that occupy our minds whilst we sleep.
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