I’m very excited to announce that my friend and composer Nat Evans and I will be working together on a long, non-narrative theatrical piece for tenor (that’s me!), percussion, and electronics. Many of you know that Nat spent a few months in mobile residency on the Pacific Crest Trail. In fact, he walked its entire length from the Mexican to the Canadian border. Along the way he made hundreds of field recordings, and he is currently using them as fodder for collaborations with composers all along the West Coast.
I feel really privileged to be able to work with Nat on The Tortoise, and even more so that we’ll be creating such a substantial work. Nat has this to say about our project:
In 2015 I’ll be writing a new theatrical work for solo tenor, percussion, electronics, and field recording myself and Tenor Jeremiah Cawley. The ideas for the piece will draw my time walking the 2600-mile Pacific Crest Trail over the course of five months in 2014. Specifically for this work, concepts will focus on my experience of time in the desert. My field recordings of natural surroundings made on the trail will drift together with tones, percussion, and Jeremiah’s singing to convey the experiences and ideas I had during the remarkable five months I spent living and walking in the wilderness.
You can hear some of Nat’s collaborations and field recordings on his Soundcloud. Below you can listen to Nat’s Still Life with Transmigration, on which I play trombone, conch shells, and a variety of natural objects; and also Hear No Noise, which The Box Is Empty commissioned from Nat in 2012.
Still Life with Transmigration
Hear No Noise
I can’t wait to get started on the music, which will no doubt turn into a very powerful piece to experience, but, we do need help with funding to get things off the ground. If you are able to give in any amount, please do so. The larger project of The Tortoise (of which this piece is a part), is sponsored by Fractured Atlas, so you gifts are fully tax-deductible.
You can check out Nat’s Fractured Atlas page here, and watch a brief video about The Tortoise. Please Give! If you are unable to give at this time, please share the project’s campaign on your social media.
Jeremiah Cawley 