Seddon trumpeter and composer Peter Knight used isolation and grief as sources of creative fuel to bring his new album ‘Shadow Phase’ to life.
Dropping on Friday, October 7, the album release would coincide with a national tour currently underway and then a European tour to perform the new pieces.
Mr Knight said he had been exploring sounds to form the album for a few years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Most of this record was created in the shadow of COVID and deep in the maw of Melbourne’s 2020 long winter lockdown,” he said.
“I did a lot of reflecting during that time.
“One of the only people I saw outside my family during this time was my old friend and teacher Ania Walwicz.”
Mr Knight said her sudden death in September 2020 played a significant part in the album.
“Her voice was in my head as I worked on this music,” he said.
“Ania’s practice as a writer relied on ‘automatic’ processes – achieving a state where the subconscious might bubble up and the words emerge.”
Mr Knight said one of the main motifs of the album was breathy tones.
“Through the simple process of exhalation, I explored my relationship with the trumpet,” he said.
“I let the tones produced by my breath unfurl on long tape loops and degrade beyond recognition, until the only the imprint of the initial gesture remained.”
Details: peterknightmusic.com
Matthew Sims
