Afgang 2022: Matt Choboter

Matt Choboter: Juniper Fuse

music for 2 microtonal prepared pianos + 2 percussion + soprano saxophone

Fire
and the emergence of human consciousness.
The mediator of this fire, the juniper twigs give light.
The flame of early human imagination
and creativity.
Psychic wombs,
caves yield art of prehistoric vistas.
For within these caves
we may meet with our dreams and the collective subconscious.

In the spirit of cave-art, Juniper fuse explores a labyrinth of percussion that includes a microtonal vibraphone, and my creation, the microtonal prepared piano.

The project stems from the curiosity of moving beyond the fixed pitches of western tuning and into unbounded soundscapes. I ask questions like: why should western ears continue to be so accustomed to only one tuning system? In contrast, can “pure sounds” meet ethnically diverse microtonal tuning constellations? Can magnets and metallic preparations placed inside the piano evoke timbral affects from Balinese Gamelan or Indian classical? And how can this instrument merge with spatialization to create embodied experiences for audiences?

Lotte Anker - soprano saxophone
Simon Toldam - microtonal prepared piano
Matt Choboter - microtonal prepared piano, compositions
Peter Bruun - extended drum-set
Matias Seibæk - microtonal vibraphone, oil can, tam-tam, taiko drums, orchestral bass-drum
Simon Mariegaard - live sound enhancement

mattchoboter.com