2026, for 8 players and spatialized electronics
The following piece works at the intersection of two objects: (1) public domain recordings of big band swing music, and (2) recordings of literal rusty playground swings. Both objects contain cultural connotations as symbols of gentrified Western culture: the big band samples are predominantly drawn from easy-listening music of the silent era, while the playground recordings were collected in an American suburb. Physically, they can also be observed as inherently laborious motions: repetition, swinging back and forth, and metallic friction.
The two objects are put into jarring juxtaposition, starting from positions where nothing seems to make coherent sense. That is, until catalyst events cause a bleeding between the two worlds, establishing gestures that eventually bind them sonically, beyond the sense of the wordplay. A double-exposed musical clump of the word “swing,” created from multiple semantic senses, is thus formed: a double swing, if you will—and, oh, I will.