De Novo

This piece is included on the Six Projects CD/LP released on the Innova Recordings label in 2015.

This is a 2013 piece for Moog synthesizer, Hammond organ, drums and percussion. It was created for multimedia artist, Lynn Fellman. Lynn strives to communicate discoveries in human evolution and genomic science through art and narrative. The title of this composition comes from Lynn's work associated with research being done on the Neanderthal genome. De Novo literally means "something new" and refers to genetic mutations that all humans and their extinct cousins, the Neanderthals, are born with. The overall form of this composition was strongly influenced by input Lynn provided regarding our current understanding of the human genome and how it has developed over time.

This is another of my fragment-based compositions, where all of the performances were recorded separately and then heavily edited and used as source material for the final compositional construction in the computer. It was my very great pleasure to work with the phenomenal Dave King on this project. He is an exceptionally gifted drummer, who showed up to the session in the middle of a snow storm at night, (God bless him). Heather is of course a true stalwart, who I've been fortunate enough to work with on a number of occasions. She is a first-call Contemporary Concert music percussion guru and a local treasure here in the Twin Cities.