“Eroded” was written as part of ICOT’s commissioning project for its second commercial album “Recurrence” in 2022 for a large chamber ensemble. The core concept of this project was repetition, and its various implications in nature or the human condition.

After some research, I came across the idea of erosion in ecology, and various processes that enable it. Formation of sea stacks due to coastal erosion became my main point of focus, and how a pillar of rock is gradually cut off from head land cliff forming a sea stack. This usually happens in fve steps:
• Weathering and erosion causing a crack in the cliff
• Hydraulic action of the waves gradually creating a sea cave
• Continued erosion forming a sea arch
• Eventual collapses, and formation of a sea stack is formed.
• Collapse of the stack, forming a sea stump.

My effort was to direct the form of the piece using the same five steps from stability into separation and eventual demise. Various colors in the ensemble are meant to act as various forces erosion or natural resistance to it.