This work is in one continuous nervous, movement. In
writing the piece, I had an image (albeit abstract) of this somewhat disparate
octet never quite coming together, their thematic ideas bouncing off
each other at cross purposes. A dangerous pretext for a piece of music
I felt, but nevertheless I found myself absorbed in the task. The instruments
rarely express themselves unfettered, and the fact that they are never
quite allowed to break free creates tension. Likewise, the foreground and
background shifts constantly between the various instruments and groupings
thereof; the timbres are twisted, otherwise domineering sonorities like
the chimes submit to weaker voices such as the guitar. This sense of aural
dysfunction, combined with the jagged, visceral sonorities afforded by an
ensemble such as this, led me towards the title, Broken Instruments.