Skull Fire Ash
A mixing of the old and new forms of music that further extends how we understand and listen. We will do this by building and reshaping what we can do with new technology and older forms of music so we can explore a new language.
For our third album, we want to re-contextualize the electronic elements we have previously utilized to create a completely acoustic sound. This would bring forth the spirit of Medieval and Renaissance music and the historical practices, while bridging the gap between experimental music and contemporary practice. We are collaborating with Bryan Day (Bay Area instrument builder) who built a megaphone that adds audio effects to the singers voices and replaces the need for a laptop. Also, we enlisted the help of Will Mullany (Richmond Virginia instrument builder) who builds crank powered synthesizers that allows us to perform the electronics completely acoustic. For this project we want to present the completed work of these instruments and the blending of medieval music as a new path in music making.
The aim of this project is an ongoing approach to how the music we make informs how we want to perform. We have always been looking for a way to bridge a gap between folk music and "noise music". The megaphone is the first new instrument built for our band that allows us to use the vocal manipulation important to our sound in real time without having to be bound to an electrical outlet. Bryan Day helped with the build and more realized this idea by installing a Teensy USB development board into the microphone and added the patches we use in max/msp. The result is what you hear and see in the video.
