Based in Arden, USA, Peter Compo is a true polymath. Born into a musical family in New York City, he is a scientist with a Ph.D. in Chemical engineering and twenty-five years of corporate business experience. His book, the Emergent Approach to Strategy: Adaptive Design and Execution, is set to be published this Spring.
As a scientist, composer, engineer, businessman and writer, he mixes his vast experience and creative abilities and pours it into his innovative music. He brings us his first collection of music, with an album of hybrid electronica, influenced by films of the 20th-century, each piece invoking the vibe of an individual film or film venue.
An avant-cinema exploration of electro-acoustic sound, Films is an acousmatic piece with, classical, pop, and cinematic tendencies. Using an array of hardware and intricate sound design, he delivers a sophisticated sound.
Anchored in the structure of classical music, peppered with pop sensibilities and wrapped up in the artist’s entirely original sonic vision, Films offer an expansive journey through an unpredictably experimental sonic landscape. Glitching rhythms and melodies collide with clean instrumental lines to create music that twists and turns, providing constant surprise.
Utilising strict composition in part, Compo is unafraid to fuse improvised elements to create a freeing character of composition across the album. Drawing on his life experiences, he’s noticed common features and synergies in the creativity of music, science and business, turning his time in the corporate world into a strength when it comes to crafting a sound unchained by attempted emulation of anything else.
Commenting on the album, he offers, “I’ve written piano and chamber music in a contemporary classical style. Films, alternatively, is a collection of cinematique electronica and acoustic electronica written over several years. Most started as improvisations, sometimes in hotel rooms when traveling around the world for business. Later I would add and subtract sections, modify sounds, add layers, and edit repeatedly until they took form as compositions. I’ve experienced the evolutionary change in this music as I developed it.”
Continuing, “Each piece conjured a movie from my life. Soundtracks are heard unconsciously, yet they pervade our minds. I’ve always been inspired to create variations on music that is heard repeatedly. I imagine films with different soundtracks.”
Eerie and intriguing, Films is a masterclass in production and compositing an immersive electro-acoustic listening experience.
Listen to Films below
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