Sifr, by Joseph Clayton Mills

Sifr

by Joseph Clayton Mills

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

“Album of the year” –Lucas Schleicher, Dusted

This release includes a download of Sifr and a PDF of the seven accompanying scores by Ryoko Akama, Sylvain Chauveau, Jonathan Chen, Patrick Farmer, Sarah Hughes, Michael Pisaro, and Adam Sonderberg.

Purchasable with gift card

$4 USD or more

Sifr 41:59

buy track

about

The premise behind «Sifr» is a simple one. Seven composers with diverse approaches to experimental sound and composition were each presented with the same piece of music and asked to create a score to accompany it—a score from which the given music could conceivably have derived.

By reversing the trajectory of the relationship between a score and its interpretation—by making the music, in essence, a “score” for composition—«Sifr» plays with issues of authority, musical representation, and what constitutes composition. Each of the seven composers—Ryoko Akama, Sylvain Chauveau, Jonathan Chen, Patrick Farmer, Sarah Hughes, Michael Pisaro, and Adam Sonderberg—approaches the problem in a unique way, which allows their individual compositional styles and concerns to be directly contrasted. What affinities and dissimilarities exist between them? Where are the points of overlap? Which aspects of the piece struck each composer as most significant? Which elements of the music are essential to its identity as a coherent work, and which are incidental or accidental? And how does one trace a line between?

credits

released June 2, 2015

Sound: Joseph Clayton Mills
Scores: Ryoko Akama, Sylvain Chauveau, Jonathan Chen, Patrick Farmer, Sarah Hughes, Michael Pisaro, Adam Sonderberg

license

about

Joseph Clayton Mills Chicago, Illinois

Joseph Clayton Mills Is an artist, composer, and performer working at the intersection of language, composition, and archival practice. He is an active participant in Chicago's improvised and experimental music community, where his collaborators have included Adam Sonderberg and Steven Hess (as Haptic), Michael Vallera (as Maar), Noé Cuéllar, Jason Stein, Michael Pisaro, and Olivia Block. ... more