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Joshua Carro on [[[clouded]]]

Joshua Carro

Joshua Carro

On Saturday, April 1, Jonathan Morgan is premiering Joshua Carro‘s [[[clouded]]], for viola, electronics, and video, alongside performances by Diana Wade and Linnea Powell at Synchromy’s vla: serious music for the viola concert. Joshua’s music and art exists at a lot of intersections: between the concert, metal, glitch, and noise worlds, between audio and visual, between narrative and pure experience. Thankfully he had a moment to write to us this week.

On April 1 Jonathan Morgan is premiering a new work of yours, [[[clouded]]]. What can you tell us about the piece?

[[[clouded]]] for electro-acoustic viola and live video is 1 of 14 works in an electro- acoustic chamber works series called [[[nexus]]]. This chain of works started in 2013 and stems from three joined ideas.

order

ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French ordre, from Latin ordo, ordin- ‘row, series, rank.’

chaos

ORIGIN late 15th cent. (denoting a gaping void or chasm, later formless primordial matter): via French and Latin from Greek khaos ‘vast chasm, void

void

ORIGIN Middle English (in the sense ‘unoccupied’): from a dialect variant of Old French vuide; related to Latin vacare ‘vacate’; the verb partly a shortening of avoid, reinforced by Old French voider.

THE CONCLUSION

chasm |ˈkaz m|
noun
a deep fissure in the earth, rock, or another surface.
• a profound difference between people, viewpoints, feelings, etc.: the chasm between rich and poor.
DERIVATIVES
chasmic |ˈkazmik| adjective( rare)
ORIGIN late 16th cent. (denoting an opening up of the sea or land, as in an earthquake): from Latin chasma, from Greek khasma ‘gaping hollow.’

I’m familiar with your music for instruments and electronics, but not so much with what you do with visuals. Could you discuss your approach, and how the audio and visual work with each other in your view?

In my sound/visual works i am interested in embracing an indeterminate (glitch) graphic/design element. In the case of the series [[[nexus]]], all of the visuals are representations of the harmonic waves happening in real-time. Everything from the speed of the rotations to the changing of parameters is mapped to the behavior of harmonic space and time. To take it a step further, i have started projecting the waves onto the performer/s to create a sense of ‘digital’ or ‘VR’ type of experience that if done correctly turns your shit projector into the most advanced projection mapping effect available.

I’ve seen you list this piece, in various places, as being by Josh Carro or by your band/artist name, [[[personablack]]]. I’ve seen records out by both. Is there a distinction? Do you write a piece and then decide who it gets released by? Or does deciding that in advance influence your writing?

That’s a fair question, in 2012/13 i created the moniker [[[personablack]]] literally meaning ‘black sound’ because i had over 20 albums under josh carro and was simply ready for something new and anonymous like. Everything made from 2013 is by [[[personablack]]]. As far as the writing goes, my influences are always coming from sound and or design.

This isn’t the first time you’ve worked with Jonathan. What’s your working relationship like? Is there a lot of back and forth?

Jonathan is exceptional and skilled, he has been nothing but open and interested in doing something new. When we first met at the Now Hear Ensemble premiere of my work falling into the blackness. I remember being so happy (not only because he welcomed me with open arms) but also that he decided to use his electric viola because he thought it would produce a better signal and ultimately serve the work better. This is something very rare in the contemporary music world: performers and composers losing their egos for the betterment of art.

I typically don’t have back and forth communication because it can tend to make the work/writing contrived and boring.

What else do you have coming up?

albums:

Right now, i am working on 5 separate project albums with Blood Oath (U. Krieger, josh carro) Ehnahre, [[[personablack]]]6, VHS release of [[[personablack]]] PERVERSION and can’t talk about the last one, all of which will be coming out from late summer 2017 to end of 2018.

commissions:
A new work for electro-acoustic piano commissioned by Vicki Ray which should be premiered in the end of spring.

work performances:
Seattlemix for Bf clarinet, cello, piano – April 5th @ FSU
falling into the blackness – April 15th @ UNT
420 Fest – April 20th @ TBA

In the summer my postcard works will be performed by NMCE partly for the Tenney Symposium and partly for chamber concerts throughout the year.

As always a lot of random underground shows, most of which are listed on any of my sites:

personablack.bandcamp.com
cition.bandcamp.com
joshuacarro.com
soundcloud.com/cition

Anything else you’d like to add?
I’d like to thank my family and friends for their endless support and patience. Also, thank you for the opportunity to discuss my work with you and your readers.

Please come to the concert Saturday, April 1 at 8 PM – 10 PM Bird Studio, Occidental College

Tickets for vla. are available at synchromymusic.org/vla