Q. What is growing on the riverbank? A. Time (2014) was written for a specially-tuned electric guitar, amplification, and a phrase-sampler. Drawing upon downtown drone-minimalism and experimental underground rock, the intention was to explore musical perception through long durations, minimalist techniques, resonance, tuning, and volume. Here, harmonic series frequencies (derived from a C1 fundamental) are gradually layered using a number of extended instrumental techniques. The accompanying video piece uses minimal visual material — where the cuts correspond to the layering of these sounds — to engage and expand perceptual awareness. This composition was originally conceived for the Digital Chorus of Tony Conrad and Jennifer Walshe’s opera The Signing, premiered at the Nuit Blanche festival, Toronto on 4 October 2014.

“Extraordinary.” Bernard Clarke, RTE Lyric FM.

Music video: GILGUNN, ‘Q. What is growing on the riverbank? A. Time’.