Brian Chase

Music/Sound
Artist in Residence, 2015
↗ http://chasebrian.com/

Artist Statement

The project I am doing, here, is Drums & Drones. It is a mirror for you, a tool, an interactive device. Drones from drums, is what the project is.

The tone of a drum, its acoustic resonance, here, is suspended, like an “aural snapshot of tone,” and its constituent frequencies are isolated and exposed. In this way we go ‘within the sound of a drum’ providing as a vehicle to simultaneously go within experience in that of the process from listening and stilling.

Taking initial inspiration from La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela’s Dream House installation in TriBeCa, NYC, Drums & Drones is very much fascinated with the physiological impact of the physical sensations of tone. The music here is presented according to the principles of Just Intonation, a.k.a. “Nature’s Tuning System,” an organic method, both simple and sophisticated, for the organization of pitch relationships.

While At Headlands

While at Headlands I intend to work on a follow up recording to the debut album of my Drums & Drones project. Since that album’s release in 2013, much new material has been created, mostly for the occasions of the many concerts that have been performed since then. It is time to properly record and document these new works. The first album was primarily recorded in my apartment, reflecting the introspective qualities of the music. The opportunity to be at Headlands and record the new material in a big space (and with the volume to fill it) reflects the more outward and socially engaging nature that motivated the creation of these new works.

Headshot image by Pooneh Ghana