cycles

In cycles, the singers are trapped inside a system of randomised numbers and contracting cycles. Each singer is given a sequence of digits produced from a random number generator and sings these numbers at regular intervals. As the music passes through a series of ‘gates’, each singer’s cycle contracts by a small amount and the duration of their entry grows longer. As this process unfolds, the texture gradually changes from sparse to dense, with voices continually overlapping like church bells. Like in no shape and every shape, I wanted to explore the contrast between something very rigid and mechanical on the one hand, and open and expressive on the other, or the relationship between oppressive, controlling systems and human agency.

cycles was premiered by Tom Edney and the MMus Singers in Cambridge, 2019. Artwork by Evelyn Whorrall-Campbell.