Inventions & Canons by Sean Clancy

This is a collection of pieces that foregrounds sounds recorded on my phone between 2017 – 2021, a practice I began around 2014 for no real reason other than I wanted to document sounds that excited me in some way. Little by little, some of these sounds began appearing in pieces I was writing, and now (for the time being at least), it has become more central to what I do.

This particular collection of works came into existence really to illustrate an alternative use of traditional contrapuntal techniques. Most of these pieces use particular unedited environmental recordings canonically (the same recording starting a few seconds later in a different spatial location). These canons move and morph into different sonic terrains creating some sense of movement, and are answered by some instrumental melodic inventions on synthesizer, guitar, or prepared piano, which are tuned to the sonic landscape. By doing this, I hope to illustrate another use of counterpoint, which is as I see it, simply one voice moving against another, sometimes together – much like we do in life.

The nature of these environmental recordings makes this release quite specific. They exhibit very happy experiences from my life, such as collecting seashells with my wife and son, but also moments of immense grief and sadness, like waiting in a COVID deserted hospice canteen whilst my family took turns spending our last moments with my Dad before he died. Others still, are simply mundane and neutral, such as my freezer defrosting. Perhaps I’ve become a musician that the composer Martijn Padding might argue ‘only looks at what is in front of them.’ However, maybe this is a useful practice, as the actor Wendell Pierce suggests ‘The more specific you are, the more universal you become...’ If this is indeed the case, I hope that at least some of these tracks resonate with you and your own experiences, and that they can bring sonic excitement, solace, or a moment of contemplation into your own existence.

I am an experimental composer & performer from Ireland. I write music for electronic instruments, acoustic instruments, & environmental sounds. For the most part, my work is involved with the act of translating non-musical things into music. My music is often long, repetitive, and contains sustained drones. I am also Ad Astra Fellow Assistant Professor in music at UCD in Ireland.

seanlclancy.com
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