Qualia by Dan Derks & Zander Raymond
Compact Disc released May 2022 - Out of Print
Digital files below
Dan Derks (New York) and Zander Raymond (Chicago) here represent a school of musical composers who use a set of tools (monome norns, modular synth) balancing delicacy and chance. Recorded together in rural New York, their improvisations were cataloged and compressed into Qualia. The album is charming and mysterious; wandering through a wooded hillside, one stumbles across a shelter made from branches left behind by dwellers who are now long gone; arranged with care, the shelter is both of purpose – to protect one from the elements – but also elegant, aesthetic, and enigmatic in its methodology and function. The craft present in these humble electronic murmurings provides them a haiku-like simplicity/profundity. Every notion feels integral, and every detail feels considered, but there is a transcendent lightness here that comes from two collaborators who fundamentally understand that sometimes less can be more, and often, the sweetest moments happen in a kind of tender grass-licked repose.
Recorded on an August afternoon in Delhi, NY 2021
Dan Derks: monome norns, arranging
Zander Raymond: modular synthesizer, monome norns, field recordings
Acknolwedgements:
Dan: to rocky for stitching together perfect days, always. to kelli and brian for the soul-level generosity through which they share their hard-won magic. to zander and nolan for building love with people based on what could be, and doubling down on what it is right now. and to all the folks who have shaped norns through their enthusiasm + ingenuity, and for bringing so much curiosity to the code.
Zander: to nolan for being the ultimate lamp in a world that is often dim. to dan + rocky for their consistent love and impeccable hospitality. to maude & oliver for their silliness and sweetness. to brian and kelli for their space making/sharing, world building, and crafting/cultivating beautiful things.
©MMXXIV