into the seam

into the seam was written for five musicians from Riot Ensemble, and draws some inspiration from the maqām modal system of North Africa and Central Asia. 

The piece drifts between measured and unmeasured music, twisting through dense refrains and dark passages which frequently evaporate into stillness. In these sparser regions delicate jeté figures dance on the surface and, as the music progresses, gradually embed themselves in the core musical material. 

The work culminates in a new soundworld driven by the changed function of these earlier, merely colouristic, gestures.