blindspot
3 saxophones, electric guitar, accordion, piano, bass.
blindspot was written for the group Icebreker - it was my first professional commission for an existing group. It was most definately influenced by the ‘Hague school’ music I was at that time just discovering - especially of Louis Andriessen, who I just went to study with. I was also keen to have strong funk and jazz elements in the piece to make the piece very groovy. I can't remember the exact reason I called it blindspot. I think it was the idea of overlapping rhythms that you feel you're in one beat then it crosses over to another - and that there is an implied pulse that is heard only when the music shifts slightly.
A friend build a motor onto a music box so it could go just a little faster than with manual action. Like a bicycle with a little motor to help you go up hills.
Premiered at the Platform 2 festival at the ICA in London around 1992 sometime (?) and then consequently in a few other places. Icebreaker will be recording this piece in 2003 sometime for a CD release.
