Exquisite Remnants by John O'Brien

In the spring of 2020, as the Covid-19 lockdown got under way, we started talking about ways to collaborate remotely after realizing that we both owned a Make Noise 0-Coast semi-modular synthesizer. By sharing patches—the state of the synthesizer, including the positions of the knobs and how the signals are routed from one part of the synthesizer to another—we created pairs of solo pieces that shared a common configuration. Each week, we made two recordings: one based on an original patch—the Prompt—and then a Response based on the other person’s patch.

The title is borrowed from Exquisite Corpse, a collaborative image or text game, developed by the Surrealists, where a work is created either by using some set rule that all of the participants have to follow, or by revealing to the next participant only one part of what the previous person contributed. In this spirit, the Exquisite series uses a tight set of technical constraints as an artistic challenge that encourages a deep exploration of an instrument. The guidelines are designed to foster creativity, provide a useful method to get to know an instrument, and engage with a wider community of music makers.

The first two releases in the series – Exquisite Coast One & Exquisite Coast Two – explored the creation of solo pieces on a single instrument. More Exquisite expanded the concept to allow for a second instrument, the Moog Werkstatt, as well as a small complement of external synthesizer modules. Next, The Less Exquisite series evolved the game further by adding a conceptual constraint. In the original Exquisite Coast we had defined only the instrument and a rough time limit. For Less Exquisite we came up with a textural/formal constraint that we came to call “slower.”

Exquisite Remnants features compositions from all of these periods. We found many pieces that didn't fit into our original releases but deserved to be shared with the world. One reason is the sheer volume of material we created. Additionally, our previous releases adhered to a Prompt/Response structure, requiring mutual approval for tracks to be included. For Remnants, however, each of us could freely choose from the leftover tracks without this restriction.

You can play Exquisite Coasts too! If you and a friend have any of the small semi-modular synthesizers from Make Noise or Moog and would like to play the game yourselves, we have publicly released the web app we used to notate and share patches. Visit ec.rustle.works to learn more.

Damon Holzborn & John O’Brien are Brooklyn based musicians who have been improvising together for over a decade.

damonholzborn.com
johnmobrien.com
ec.rustle.works