Hydra Nightingale
for solo contrabass
This piece was written with and for Kyle Motl. It was premiered at a Subtropics Festival Biennial concert in March 2017, at Audioteque in Miami, and won the 2018 International Society of Bassists/David Walter Composition Competition.
The material of the piece is largely composed of sounds that Kyle has developed as part of his practice as an improviser, and strongly reflects our friendship and collaboration. This work has four sections, one for each autonomous head of a healthy mutant songbird. The heads solo, then interweave their songs with each other in the final section. Lyrical lines are punctuated by crunchy, sparkling, noisy, unstable sounds that vibrate the skin at close range.