yn omiea by Michael Speers & John Wall

These works are the result of a compositional collaboration between myself and John Wall. Realised between April 2022 and October 2023.

Initially we each contributed to a bank of sound material, which was sampled and arranged into 2 discreet works. These were combined, re-worked and sent back and forth several times—resulting in short, concise compositions. This process continued with new banks of sound material that emerged from our individual practices, conversations and live performances. This attentive sculptural approach continued over a year, resulting in these 3 pieces.

Some of the ‘new’ material was generated using nuPG and Gutter Synthesis. My approach to these tools attempts to playfully disrupt the structural and timbral tendencies that the given architectures often tend to generate, in an attempt to create ‘new’ forms of movement and narrative. I try to maintain an open dialogue with these instruments, allowing myself to be guided by their unpredictable, emergent behaviour. Processing of these sources was done using granular synthesis tools developed for John by Tom Mudd. John’s particular relationship with and acute understanding of these tools - plus his participation in their development and construction - produces an incredibly rich, idiosyncratic vocabulary. The elastic, erratic, volatile, angular nature of these works can be attributed to this, emerging from a sensitive approach to material and tools and our shared aesthetic interests in structural and timbral complexity.

The process of working on these pieces with John inspired my approach to the work 'For David Stockard': 4 electroacoustic studies that demonstrate strong aesthetic parallels to 'yn omiea'.

https://alwayspartyperfect.bandcamp.com/album/pp-04

These pieces similarly demonstrate an attempt to push and pull, with and against recognisable compositional idiosyncrasies and an intuitive attendance to the complex behaviour of certain digital synthesis tools.

https://johnwall.bandcamp.com/

Manipulated sampled sound fragments from:
Lee Fraser
Louise Le Du
Elías Merino
John Wall
Michael Speers

michaelspeers.net