Mythical Spaces Steven Kemper

• 1 Mythical Spaces: I. Underground 01:50
• 2 Mythical Spaces: II. Water 01:45
• 3 Mythical Spaces: III. Forest 02:33
• 4 Mythical Spaces: IV. Mountain 02:00
• 5 Mythical Spaces: V. Temple 02:27
• 6 Breath 04:03
• 7 Lament 09:16
• 8 In Illo Tempore 07:48
• 9 The Seven Stars: I. Ak (Dubhe) 02:05
• 10 The Seven Stars: II. Merak 01:26
• 11 The Seven Stars: III. Phecda 01:19
• 12 The Seven Stars: IV. Megrez 01:30
• 13 The Seven Stars: V. Alioth 01:43
• 14 The Seven Stars: VI. Mizar/Alcor 01:51
• 15 The Seven Stars: VII. Alkaid 02:07
• Total Runtime 43:43

Info for Mythical Spaces

Steven Kemper makes his debut on Ravello Records with his electroacoustic album MYTHICAL SPACES. Kemper combines acoustic instruments and electronics to create meditative compositions that explore the connections between real and imaginary worlds. Kemper writes that “myths represent traces of our collective imagination, and similarities between myths from different cultures point to a shared human experience.”

The title work Mythical Spaces concerns the liminal space between physical and mythical locations, both of natural and human construction. Amplified vessels evoke specific spaces in each of the five movements, such as an amplified pot of dirt in “Underground” and a wooden bowl in “Forest.” Breath uses various recordings of inhalations to conjure the animating, life-giving power of divine breath. Lament for flute and computer responds to the poem “A History of Lament.” Drawing from the text’s evocation of the myth of Orpheus, Kemper explores the transitions between the world of the living and the underworld. In Illa Tempore bridges not only geographical space, but temporal space as well. The piece quotes, both in title and music, Monteverdi’s 1610 Missa in illo tempore. This music of the past is juxtaposed with technology of the future—the musical robots AMI (Automated Monochord Instrument) and CARI (Cylindrical Aerophone Robotic Instrument) designed and built by Expressive Machines Musical Instruments, co-founded by Kemper. AMI and CARI produce a backdrop of shifting drones, upon which a saxophone and bassoon employ a variety of extended performance techniques. The album closes with The Seven Stars for prepared piano, a piece devoted to the mythology of stars, the constellations. Each of the work’s seven movements portrays a star in the Big Dipper, with musical intensities that correspond to each star’s apparent magnitude. The percussive, resonant sound profile of The Seven Stars includes special materials used on the piano strings, including marbles, mallets, and ping-pong balls.

Steven Kemper, acoustic instruments

Steven Kemper
is a composer, music technologist, and instrument designer. As a composer, Steven creates music for acoustic instruments, instruments and computers, musical robots, dance and video. His compositions have been performed by the American Modern Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, NOW ensemble, and the Grupo Sax-Ensemble. The have also been presented at numerous festivals worldwide, including ICMC, NIME, SEAMUS, SIGCHI, SMC, 12 Nights, Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, Third Practice Festival, Pixilerations, American Composers Alliance Festival of American Music, and the Seoul International Computer Music Festival. Steven has received awards for his music from the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology, Meet the Composer, the Danish Arts Council, and the International Computer Music Association. His first solo album of electroacoustic music, Mythical Spaces, was released by Ravello Records in 2018.

Steven’s interest in music technology centers on the development of technologies that enhance the connectivity between electronic music and the physical world. Research areas include musical robotics, instrument design, human-computer interaction, gesture and music, and networked music. Steven is a co-founder of Expressive Machines Musical Instruments, a collective dedicated to creating and composing music for robotic instruments. He also co-developed the RAKS (Remote electroAcoustic Kinesthetic Sensing) System, a wireless sensor interface designed specifically for belly dancers with composer and dancer Aurie Hsu, and Movable Party, a bicycle-powered interactive DJing system. Additionally, Steven is a co-founder of LA Listens, an organization that takes an analytic-praxis approach to listen to the interrelationships between the sensory, social, and ecological aspects of streets in Los Angeles. Steven’s research has been presented at NIME, ICMC, and MOCO, and published in Leonardo, Organised Sound, Emille: The Journal of the Korean Electro-Acoustic Music Society, and Noise & Silence.

Steven received a Ph.D. in Composition and Computer Technologies from the University of Virginia (UVA), where he studied with Judith Shatin, Matthew Burtner, and Ted Coffey. He holds a M.M. in Composition from Bowling Green State University and a B.A. in Music from Bowdoin College.

This album contains no booklet.