Thoughts crystallise, become atmosphere. Ambiences contract, seize up, splinter. Everything within; the eye sees in all directions.
In Fluence, Alexander Harker negotiates the terrains of acoustic and synthesized sound with a rare dexterity, conjuring highly variegated work that feels as if it could turn in any direction at any moment. This release is a celebration of a young composer confidently speaking in a language of his own devising.
Fluence (for clarinet and MaxMSP, 2010) was commissioned by Ergodos for clarinetist Jonathan Sage with funds provided by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, and premiered at the Ergodos Festival MMX. Sage performs here, rendering Harker’s rapidly shifting filigrees and delicately textured open spaces with great virtuosity.
Fractures (2011), a fixed media piece based on recordings of Harker’s electric guitar playing, deftly manipulates such familiar timbres to phantasmal effect. Spectral suggestions of a fragment of a My Bloody Valentine song or a John McLaughlin guitar solo dissolve as rapidly as they coalesce.
www.alexanderjharker.co.uk
www.jonathansage.co.uk