by Jeffrey Niblack
Photo by Drew Brown
On April 5, Liquid Music along with partner institutions Walker Art Center and Schubert Club Mix will present an evening of collaboration between Nick Zammuto and Roomful of Teeth, including a piece commissioned for the occasion entitled ToBeGinAGain. Zammuto received accolades for his duo The Books last decade and has since been releasing music with the band Zammuto (which includes his brother Mikey). Running through all of his music is a keen ear for the multitude of sounds around us and a playful willingness to experiment.
In advance of his performance with Roomful of Teeth in Minneapolis, Zammuto answered a few questions for the Liquid Music blog.
Tell us more about composing ToBeGinAGain. What does it mean to you?
I've made a series of short songs from rhythmic repetitions of simple phrases accompanied by an analog synthesizer. In each song a soloist sings through a stereo pitch/delay unit that shifts their performance in time and melody against their real voice in various ways. The rest of the group supports the soloist and their impostor copies in real time. A counterpoint is created between the 'original' and the 'copy' much as we are constantly trying to catch up with our virtual identities in the digital world. I find that the copied and shifted voices are somewhere between supernatural and unnatural in a way that makes me simultaneously fascinated and discomforted. For me, the repetition of phrases within the chorus forces a normalization of these unnatural voice sounds in a way that makes them almost acceptable over time, but not quite. The analog synthesizer mirrors this tension by constantly shifting its role and identity from song to song. Analog synth has always been a deep love of mine for its ability to create both a buttery emotional warmth and total alienation at the turn of a knob. This range is something Roomful of Teeth is particularly good at as well.
Roomful of Teeth and Nick Zammuto performing "ToBeGinAGain" Source: WQXR Radio
What was the process of developing ToBeGinAGain? What was exciting about working with Roomful of Teeth? What was surprising about the development of the piece?
It was a real honor to be asked to write for Roomful of Teeth last summer. They spend part of their summers every year at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, and I live nearby in Southern Vermont, so I was able to spend a week getting to know them as musicians and people. They are all such unique voices that blend in such unique ways, and they are all so willing to be adventurous, the possibilities are endless. I floated the idea of having them sing through a pitch shifting delay pedal and had them take turns experimenting with it. I think they enjoyed the real time circus mirror feeling of singing through it and getting such unexpected sounds back, it became the basis for ToBeGinAGain. To have a layer of technology between the soloists and the audience was something they haven’t tried before, and it was a good challenge to build a system that could work in real time to add a new texture to their repertoire.
What is most fun and most challenging about composing for Roomful of Teeth?
They are fun people and very willing to try out my crazy ideas. They approach what they do with a fearlessness that I really admire. The challenge has been dealing with the rigidity of incorporating a digital element into their organic flow. The soloists have to exist in a weird kind of bubble while they’re singing, so they need to close themselves off from the rest of the group in a way that makes them feel a bit strange. But really that’s part of the meaning of the piece for me.
What music has been inspiring you recently?
I’ve been introducing my three sons to my musical loves recently on the drive to school, so I’ve been revisiting a lot of music from my past. We’ve been on a big Zappa kick recently. The boys especially love 'St. Alphonso’s Pancake Breakfast.' They also love Weird Al, of course. The ‘Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota’ is a really brilliant song. My oldest boy gravitates towards A Tribe Called Quest's ‘Scenario’ while my youngest loves the knee movements from Phillip Glass’s ‘Einstein on the Beach.’
All seated tickets for Nick Zammuto and Roomful of Teeth are sold out. A limited number of standing room tickets are currently available.
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