I’ve always had vivid dreams, and recently I’ve been using them as springboards for composition. Fearless was inspired by a profoundly impactful dream I had many years ago while struggling with anxiety, in which I rediscovered my true name: Fearless. Rather than following the details of the dream’s storyline, this piece broadly portrays its theme — a transformation from fearful to fearless through reconnection with an inherent, original identity. For me, fearlessness is more about childlike confidence than defiant boldness. I remember being small, believing I could do anything (even fly and walk on water!), never assuming the worst about myself, others, or life circumstances. I tried to musically depict this return to childlikeness through a melodic/rhythmic playfulness emerging, not without struggle, from a more mournful setting.
The electronics track in Fearless is almost exclusively comprised of flute and percussion recordings (played by Amanda Lowry and Brayden Krueger) which have been layered and manipulated in various ways, with the addition of some vocals and a small handful of supplementary sounds. I believe this limited sound-world unifies the piece by providing a distinct tone colour palette in which the live flute and percussion can most naturally blend and speak. Every time I transform a sound electronically, I’m fascinated by its inherent properties — for instance, the various frequencies in a flute sound that come to the forefront through transposition or filtering that weren’t audibly perceptible in the sound’s original state. This, too, reinforces the “become what you always were” message of my dream — a reality I hope will permeate the piece on multiple levels.
