Ingrid Laubrock: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt

Abstract

versely, his compositional thinking informs his approach to performing. Regarding the issue of performativity—rather, liveness— Subespai mentions the following: “it comes directly as a result of how I work, how I create, how I record . . . If I find something . . . I want to be able to play it live, and also make a piece out of it. This forces me to take a lot of notes, manipulate a lot, make sure I can reproduce things days later. . . . It’s all like a long-running performance.” These comments help to characterize the composer’s attitude toward his work’s close relationship to performance. Regarding Subespai’s studio approach, he transforms his fundamental sound classes over time. However, what is most compelling is his maintenance of a relatively small group of samples. This limitation, coupled with the studio tools he uses, helps to simplify a given musical process, regardless of any musical, timbral, or noise-based element used. Often, this setup results in a sense of stasis heard throughout The Present Time. Another attitude that influenced the outcome of Subespai’s studio composition is his view on the occurrence of everyday life events. Regarding this issue, Subespai is concerned with life’s extreme nuanced range and its ambiguity, which is inherent in much of our daily experience. Therefore, one could view Subespai’s studio practice as a reflection of his perception of the natural world. This concept reflects the composer’s strategy in the studio, combining organic and so-called artificial sounds, or a more environmentally based sound palette, with noise. Ultimately, the following statements made by Subespai confirm our musical observations of his work in the studio: “I just love mixing stuff that has nothing to do with each other, creating new atmospheres that didn’t exist . . . the listener will come up with their own images to go along with the tracks, their own story.” For Subespai, his studio practice allows for freedom and experimentation, the results of which are then directly integrated in his work. Overall, his process of experimentation forms the foundation of this composition. A distinctive feature in track 3, “A brief moment of stillness,” is the emergence of a bright and active color amidst a more dense layering. This process seems to have resulted in a blend of sound that is more unidentifiable compared with other sections heard previously. This type of patterning and interweaving of sound material may offer a listener multiple perspectives, perhaps provoking alternative imagery. As such, the composer has carefully selected materials in preparing this track, and, similar to what the title suggests, stillness is achieved. This track’s sound world, with its ambiguous range of color and density, progresses further, compared with the musical contrasts found in the previous tracks. In track 4, “Sandglass,” prerecorded material is looped in a distinctive manner, and pitted alongside another partially looped layer. The composer brings these elements together, overlapping them with other noise-based streams. The result alludes to impressions of a flowing concentration of sand. A nature-based sound has been juxtaposed onto the granular texture as well. Overall, one could view the total range of sound classes present in this track as forming groupings of cross-rhythmic patterning. “Braidwood to Northside,” track 5, offers the listener a seemingly constrained or limited acoustic space, wherein environmental elements of wind and burning wood, and other ambiguous sound classes are brought together. This results in a physical sense of place, offering the listener a visceral, multidimensional sound complex, provoking a sense of physical movement. In sum, The Present Time highlights the composer’s ability to create a broad, and sometimes complex, mixture of sonic weight or color, rather than any particular electronic music technique, or reference to genre and historical precedence. Here, Subespai is successful in his arrangement of material, loosely preparing his sound material in a manner that allows him to repeatedly experiment until the desired sonic result emerges.