Musicians ready to experiment

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This article was published 22/02/2021 (1659 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Promising a unique night of experimental electronic music, a trio of musicians is performing a concert of all-new original pieces Tuesday night.

Organized by Brandon University associate professor of low brass Aaron Wilson, who is also performing, the show also features Brandonite Brendon Ehinger and California-based musician Sarah Belle Reid, all live-streamed online.

Reid’s inclusion is a testament to the wide-reaching nature of live-streamed music events, which have risen to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ehinger’s experimentation in live-streamed music predates the pandemic, and while he misses live music a great deal, he said it’s nice to see people embrace the online medium.

“The reach is arbitrary — there’s no sense of borders or inaccessibility,” he said, adding the medium has come a long way during the pandemic.

While performing to a small group in Brandon is a unique experience unto itself, it’s a whole other thing when a much larger group of people spread throughout the world are all enjoying your creation.

“It definitely opens up the possibility of reaching beyond your immediate community,” Ehinger said.

Tuesday’s performance, called “Wired and Wonderful,” was borne out of a need to perform, Wilson said.

Although the musical pieces were all pre-recorded, Wilson said the act of sharing what they’ve accomplished with others is rewarding, and beats performing into the abyss of an empty office.

On that front, Wilson’s piece draws inspiration from the sense of isolation we’ve all come to experience in varying degrees throughout the pandemic.

Called “Office Music,” his piece starts with a solo trombone, which he adds alongside guitar pedals and a bass amplifier, after which he said it gets “a little weirder.” The sound of sanitizing spray being spritzed joins the shaking and percussion of a box of Goldfish crackers.

“It’s definitely going to be a different experience for the average viewer who hasn’t experienced it … but you have to close your eyes and let the music happen and let it happen that way,” he said.

Ehinger said that although his piece doesn’t have an implicit pandemic theme, but one might come across to the listener anyway.

“I feel like the mood that I’ve kind of created through manipulating the live performance is a little bit sombre and speaks to the isolation that we’re all feeling,” he said. “That idea of longing for that live interaction.”

His piece begins with a pre-recorded trombone work called “The Missing Fifth,” which he dismantles and rebuilds with the use of modular synthesizers.

Wilson and Ehinger had originally planned on performing side by side during the show, but level red restrictions put an end to their rehearsals, pushing them to perform their own pieces separate from one another.

The modular synthesizer will be a trip for viewers, Ehinger said, describing the process of using it as “kind of like a live remix.”

“It’s something viewers are going to find potentially confusing because the instrument is a box of knobs and wires that sits in front of me,” Ehinger said. “In some cases, I’m having to react to what the instrument is giving me to move the piece along.”

Reid’s addition comes out of Wilson and Ehinger becoming fans of her after seeing her perform online. She will pair a double-bell trumpet with interactive electronics, modulating it with chaotic electric gestures and tones in a piece called “Mist+Swarm.”

Tuesday’s show begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be livestreamed on both the Brandon University School of Music Facebook page as well as their YouTube page.

The show is approximately 35 minutes long, begins with an introduction by Wilson, and will continue with Ehinger’s performance, Wilson’s piece and a show closer by Reid.

In his experience, Ehinger said folks in Brandon have been receptive to new ideas about music and art in general, such as what Tuesday’s performance promotes.

“It’s just great we can present this to the local community, but at the same time to the global community,” he said. “I just hope people will allow themselves to deviate from what their expectations are.”

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB