Hallucigenia

Hallucigenia is dedicated to the cello trio Tre Vocci.

The title originates from a species of animal of the Cambrian age, living in what today is known as British Columbia, Canada and southern China. Originally known as Canadia, this genus was renamed Hallucigenia due to its bizarre and hallucinatory qualities. This particular type of animal makes little anatomical sense, possessing qualities that seems to come from a very different evolutionary rationale than we normally observe.

For example, Hallucigenia have no obvious head and two types of limbs, neither of which seem fit for moving around. Admittedly, not much is known about these creatures, but the concept of an evolutionary sidestep that creates a bizarre creature can be fascinating. I wanted to explore this in music — hallucinatory, dream-like qualities and diffuse connections in thought and logic. Growth and connections that occur in a dream-like state, creating an irrational logic that is somehow still consistent.

This is my first composition in which I began by working with instrumental samples before putting the pencil to paper with notes. I created montage of cello samples, which I then transcribed to produce the musical score. Not having worked in this way before, I found myself thinking in a different way, resulting in what I believe to be a simpler and perhaps more direct music than I usually compose. This is not to say that working with audio produces simpler pieces, only that I am inexperienced with it and therefor limited as a musician exploring a new instrument both familiar and strange to them at the same time.