Music
Nearly all of it is improvised. I'd rather leave room for something to arrive than decide everything in advance, sound shaped live, on the threshold between dark and light.
I've been making electronic sound since 1993, solo and alongside others. I lean toward dark, powerful textures, but darkness on its own is only monotony. The work is in the precision and intricacy that lets a little light in, and in the tension between the two.
Solo
On my own I gravitate toward the more esoteric instruments, modular systems, Ciat-Lonbarde, Soma, but there is always room for a great keyboard synth! The releases gather the pieces that found their shape and asked to be kept.
The Bees
Not Your Average Worker Bees
Pools of Darkness, Seas of Light
The next record from the duo I share with David Sutherland, and the first to bring in the kaval, a Moldavian fipple flute handmade from dogwood in Belgium by Winne Clement. Long-form ambient leaning into Berlin School: slow sequences, deep space, pieces and shorter vignettes that fall away into quiet.
We formed in 2016 and have been chasing that same balance ever since.
The new record is still taking shape. In the meantime, here is our latest release, Metaporpoises. Take a listen.
Canadian Electronic Ensemble
Since 1995 I've been a member of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, the oldest continuously performing live electronic group in the world. It is nearly all improvised, six of us listening hard and building something none of us could have written alone.
Frequency Freaks
I founded and host Frequency Freaks, Toronto's monthly synthesizer workshop, now in its tenth year. Free and open to anyone, from accomplished knob-twiddlers to the merely curious. The thing I'm proudest of is how many people have given their first performance there, because the community we've built is a welcoming place to take that risk.
Mixing & mastering
I also mix and master for other artists, mostly in experimental and Berlin School electronic music. The job isn't to impose my own sound; it's to find theirs and clear everything else out of its way, to enhance the story they're telling. Craft that supports another artist's vision.
Technical Tidbits
From time to time I write up what I learn at the bench: synthesis how-tos, patches, and notes on the stranger instruments. Small offerings for anyone walking the same path.
Sound made visible.
Let the room move the line, or wander on.