Performed and performed December 18, 2008 at Moods
Zürich, Switzerland

Jason Kahn // composition, percussion, electronics
Vincent Millioud // violin
Christian Weber // contrabass
Bo Wiget // cello

click on score to enlarge

download the score

listen to the recording

The idea for "Sin Asunto" goes back to my love of Albert Ayler's work with strings. I had this sound in my head when I asked Christian Weber (contrabass), Bo Wiget (cello) and Vincent Millioud (violin) to perform a graphical score I'd been asked to compose for a concert series at the Moods club in Zürich.

I also wanted to pursue an idea I'd had for some time of combining the resonant acoustics of amplified percussion with a group of string instruments. I was interested in blurring the lines between electronic timbres (primarily feedback) and the extended acoustic lines of the strings.

Aside from these sonic considerations I wanted to create an atmosphere akin to one pushing up to the surface from the very great depths of a vast and dark body of water, rising to the light streaming down from above with both a sense of urgency and resignation.

Sin asunto, no subject. I wanted the piece to be about emptiness and how we find our way through this to something new.