Magnetic Stripes is an audio-visual performance that highlights the potential of algorithmic generation, finding a middle ground between human performance and machine creation. This is achieved through multiple stochastic algorithms controlling various aspects of a performance, with curated specific states created by the artist.

By giving control over some aspects of the performance to algorithmic generation, space is made for the artist to have clarity and focus on other musical elements. Magnetic Stripes simultaneously shows the subtlety of human performance and its effect on the experience, and the raw efficiency of machine generation. The generative elements of Magnetic Stripes are made obvious through musical and visual choices, yet are subtle in their control of the performance. All sound, visuals and controls are made with Cycling74’s Max 8 software.

Played at the Australasian Computer Music Conference virtually 2020.

Nervous Plaything 'Little Red Book' music video. Directed by Brad Davis. (2017) - from ‘Hard EP’ (2015).

The story of a musician who is travelling to finally put a song to rest, searching the snow covered forests of Deer Lake Park and Cypress Mountain for a place of closure.

“Little Red Book” explores the power of noise as emotion. It is a wave of harshness that washes over the listener. It features multiple heavily effected guitar and synth layers that move in and out of the foreground. The vocal has an AM quality that moves into a more emotive cry that is effected using one of his home made software harmonisers. It ends with an industrial guitar and vocal texture where the layers become intertwined. The lyrics tell a story of the power that someone can have on your life creatively and in love.

Even though the HARD EP was released in 2015, I wasn’t quite done with the track, or the feeling it evoked in me. I knew that I had more to say with the track, than just its sonic qualities. That’s when I spoke to Brad Davis about collaborating on a music video for it. I loved collaborating with Brad. He wrote the story of the video and when he pitched me the idea, I was sold immediately. I have worked with him before on scoring a film he directed, and I really respect his focus and perfectionist nature when it comes to his work. The distance the artist physically travels in the video parallels the time it takes for someone to get over a heart break or put something behind them as expressed in the song. The burying of the tape also is a physical expression of the cathartic action of burying emotional experiences and moving on. We shot the video in the wilderness and city areas of Vancouver when I travelled over there in 2017. I guess it is fitting in the scheme of my development as an artist, because I have moved away from using so many guitars and I now focus on a more drone/electronic sound. This video was a way of me having a sort of closure from that part of my creative life.