Thursday, February 8, 2024
5:00 – 7:00 PM
Free Admission

Homstal album launch party: new media works by Brent Lee

To celebrate the launch of the Homstal album of new media works by Brent Lee, the Noiseborder Ensemble is hosting a launch party on February 8, 2024 from 5-7 pm in the Multimedia Studio of the Alan Wildeman Centre for Creative Arts in Windsor, Ontario. 

 Joseph Glaser of the Centrediscs label will introduce the new recording, and Brent Lee will perform tracks from the album. The event will also feature performances by the Noiseborder ensemble, which includes Sigi Torinus, Trevor Pittman, Nicholas Papador, Chris McNamara, Megumi Masaki and Brent Lee. 

Venue:

Alan Wildeman Centre for Creative Arts
Multimedia Studio, 360 Freedom Way
Windsor, ON, N9A 3A7

Regarding the Homstal album: 

Homstal is a project that integrates improvisation with electroacoustic composition, fusing the richness of multilayered sonic textures with the intimacy of chamber jazz. The recordings that comprise this album are studio productions that mix and supplement the audio materials used in live performances; each Homstal piece exists in a version that can be presented as an audiovisual environment with space for improvisation and site specificity. The titles of the separate tracks largely refer to the locations where the source video material was gathered. 

The Homstal project began in 2012 while working on a film score. I was traveling with the crew as they shot on location in Europe and western Canada; director Kim Nelson’s idea was to include shots of me playing the saxophone while the saxophone could be heard in the soundtrack. While only one of the saxophone scenes was ultimately included in the film, I really liked the combination of soprano sax and ambient electronic textures and began creating a set of pieces I could perform on my own. The first Homstal performance took place the following year during a stay at the Residency Eina Dance in Norway; since then, I have continued to create more pieces in this vein, occasionally presenting them on my own or within performances of the Noiseborder Ensemble, my multimedia group formed in 2008. 

Homstal is an olde English word meaning “home” or “homestead”. I like the ring of the word, and since much of the work on this project has been accomplished at my studio in rural Ontario, the name seems apt. 

I would like to thank friends who have contributed to this project, especially Sigi Torinus for her mentorship and encouragement in developing the visual design for these pieces and for her assistance with the album art. Martin Schiller plays electric bass on Overtro, and Aaron Eichler plays the long snare drum sample used in DOT 1000. Matthew Rideout contributed additional mastering of the audio tracks. Homstal grew directly out of my work with my friends in the Noiseborder Ensemble and I am grateful for their generous collaboration. This project was supported in part with a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and with the additional support of the University of Windsor. I am also grateful to Centrediscs for their support. – BL