if the thought evaporates

Created in 2020/2021 for open ensemble and interactive electronics (open duration)

This piece has no score

Form the liner notes:

Slow fade into the New Year with the Full Spectrum Records debut of Denton, Texas’ Kory Reeder: ‘If the Thought Evaporates.’

Recorded in 2021 with a rotating ensemble of players – comprised of Alaina Clarice [flute], Brian Do [bass clarinet], Kathleen Crabtree and Michael Moore [viola], as well as Conner Simmons and Reeder himself [double bass] – ‘If the Thought Evaporates’ compiles session recordings of an improvisational piece for instruments and electronics, the backbone of which is a MAX patch containing six instances of intelligent oscillators. These ghosts in the machine listen to the performers and one another, making real-time decisions on frequency, duration, amplitude, and even deploying subtle effects based on received information from the performance itself.

Reeder’s further notes to his players were merely suggestive in scope. “Before playing, I might say something like, ‘let’s think about C,’” he explained via a holiday email exchange, “that could mean a lot: is it C-major or minor? Is it ‘of’ C, starting on C, never playing a C? The options are open for everyone to figure out as we go. It’s an improvisation with grammar, or at the very least a vocabulary.”

The resulting recordings are often surprising, each possessing its own magic moments or spooky interactions from a distance; however, these are hardly clinically academic science experiments. Reeder clarified, “I find it to be a deeply contemplative and expressive experience, although maybe in an abstract way. It can pull you in new directions and make you think about what you’re playing in different ways. Not human, obviously, but something that lures into something or somewhere else.”

Occupying a strange zone somewhere between intentionality and the aleatory, this is music to fill the quiet moments and remind us of the necessity to remain flexible – in our lives, in our expression, in our spirit.