photo © landa van vliet
on saturday evening september 14, 2024, guitarist seth josel (new york/berlin) was a guest on the drievriendenstraat for the second time. _after his unforgettable performances of compositions by william hellermann, nic collins and catherine lamb in june 2023, he returned with the dutch premieres of two representatives of a somewhat younger generation of american experimentalists, who fearlessly challenge preconceived ideas about form, structure and ‘sound’ in the broadest sense of the word
1. ‘orienting response,’ a relentless, provocative 2025-2016 composition for acoustic guitar by american composer and percussionist sarah hennies (1979, louisville, kentucky)
‘orienting response,’ the title of sarah hennies’ composition, refers to an individual’s immediate response to an outside stimulus when that change is not sudden enough to elicit a startle reflex. _this reflex is present in early childhood development and can be used to evaluate a baby’s ability to react and respond to a change in its environment. _orienting response is also stimulated by a regular, alternating stimulus such as a light, sound or touch moving back and forth in a regular pulsing rhythm known as bilateral stimulation. _this is a key component in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (emdr)-therapy, a branch of psychotherapy that focuses on relieving the patient of disturbing memories as a treatment for psychopathology
photo © landa van vliet
2. ‘bloom,’ a 2019-2022 composition for electric guitar, gizmotron and fx-pedals by american composer and bassist michelle lou (1975, san diego, california)
in her composition ‘bloom’ michelle lou explores a signal processing system created out of variously routed fx pedals which treats the instrument as more of a sound synthesizer than a guitar. _this piece features the gizmotron*, which is a sustaining device for the electric guitar invented in the 1970s and fell into obscurity until it was resurrected by another party about fifty years later. _while the motorized wheels bow the strings, the motor itself is amplified to bring attention to the piece’s overall mechanistic behavior. _the form of the piece can be interpreted as a sort of funnel shape or bloom as more and more diverse material enters the system and creates a larger opening
* The gizmotron is a small enclosure attached to the guitar, that consists of small motor-driven wheels with serrated edges to match the size of each string. _the continuous bowing action is activated by pressing one or all of keys located on the top of the unit. _pressing a key allows the wheel to descend against a motor-driven shaft and bow the corresponding string, while the other hand remains free to fret single notes or full chords
ocw, stage for small scale events, drievriendenstraat 26, 3014 JS rotterdam
website: http://sethjosel.de/
17 persons visited the evening
data crimmp_42: saturday evening, september 14, 2024 from 20.30 hrs. on
facilities crimmp_42: : stage ocw / arnold schalks
special thanks to aart strootman