Five begins by preparing a looped French horn and voice track from the ground up. This loop plays a few times before stopping altogether to make way for piano and voice. From here, a more typical band (slide guitar, drums, vocals, and keys) takes over. The horn loop returns and retreats several times over the course of the song as the meandering slide guitar, mellow keys, and sparse drums fill the spaces between intimate, melancholy vocals.

Sophie was my childhood dog. She joined my family at as early a time as I can remember, and passed away when I was twenty, halfway through my junior year of college. I wrote and recorded a piece for piano, cello, and clarinet, and worked with animator Aidan Kessler to give life to the images of her that were swirling around in my head at the time. Progress continues on this work, but the audio track can be viewed below the description to the left.

When Free Samples was first imagined, I immediately wanted to include a piece for dance. The only problem at the time was that I had never really ventured into the dance program at UT, and hadn't managed to bump into any dance majors otherwise. But by the time the event started to look like a real possibility, I was introduced to LB Flett, a talented dancer and choreographer whose style amazes me every time get to see her pieces. It was a wonderful opportunity to write Bluish with her, an electronic piece which she choreographed and performed.

Coda was the interactive centerpiece of the night, and the final piece of the recital. The music consists of a minimalist piece written for violin, cello, and guitar, all sent through a delay pedal which helps create various rhythmic patterns and a consistent pulse. At the performance, the audience was encouraged to walk around, chat, eat, and make some art of their own with provided media. A section at the end of the piece was looped via looping pedal, and the performers and I joined the audience for ten or so minutes before returning to the stage to accompany the looped section to the end. The informality of this piece allowed the recital to dissolve into conversation and end in a wonderfully natural way.