April leaves newsletter: gigs in the next week and some thoughts

My dear friends,

Since the last time I wrote to you, I’ve been busy finishing off some music, procrastinating on writing some, and in the deep valley of talking about music. There are some excellent conversations of recent that have changed my perspective on the internal machinery of the music I make as well as making me reckon with the motivations behind the individual decisions in my music.

Some of these conversations have come from going to gigs, and others from reflecting on those I’ve played. I think it will take me some time to process these thoughts. There has been a lot of amazing music that I’ve heard in the past two weeks and the enormity of the shift I feel necessarily requires the extra time to brew.

I’ve been delighted by the warm words from some of you who read these newsletters recently. Since the last one, I’ve had the chance to talk about this format with some of you and it’s really encouraging to know that this format of writing, which is one of my favourites, has a positive place with my friends.

Recently, I've found myself connecting with musicians from a range of paths and being in different musical communities as a really rich and rewarding experience. The ways we make work individual practices has so mush that does and doesn't translate across to others, and it's fascinating to me to find points of connection between what I do and that of others in unexpected places. It has an interesting emotional impact on how we make the kind of art that we want to make.

It feels like a strange time right now, that unlike my usual pace of making work, there is an intensity to a compacted series of creative developments, which are requiring a different kind of mental presence. It feels good right now, in a form that's trusting individual small choices in a day, and taking as material and practice, the inspiring encounters of musical moments. The blurring of the music/not music space in a whole life can be hard sometimes but is really enriching right now.

Here is some info I have got to share about the next fun week of gigs!

• I’m playing solo on Sunday 30 April at Longplay. Chloe Kim is doing a solo drumkit set, and there is a gorgeous trio for us to hear from Zela Papageorgiou, Nat Grant and Justin Ashworth. I can’t wait for the wonderful time. Come along if you’re free. Music from 7:30! Tickets here! fb​
• Chloe Kim and I are doing a duo concert recording of a brand new duo on the 1st of May at Monash in the PAC Auditorium. We’re playing at 8pm. If you’re south-east side, do come along. I’m stoked to have Chloe in Melbourne to hear her and perform together.

A few bits and bobs:

• The concert we did with my band Structures of Change at COMA (in the formation of me, Niran and Callum), was livestreamed and the video remains up here! COMA is one of my favourite concert series; what Emily, Liz, Sam and the whole committee do to make a space for well-supported original music as well as the incredible work of the Wheatsheaf in enabling the best space for making, and the fact that they are continuing it, is truly remarkable and deserves a lot of love.
• There are a set of excerpts from interviews by the Guthman Prize finalists of this year in 100th edition of Electronic Sound magazine electronicsound.co.uk.Those of you I speak with often know how magical the experience of Guthman and that community has been for me.
• Don’t get me started about the album, because it’s almost there! The material’s been sent off to be pressed and you’ll be hearing it online from 16th of June. I’m so delighted. I’ll be doing a naughty early launch in that I’m playing from the album at the CCRMA gig in early May, so there’ll be sneaky stuff in there for those of you who will be present/streaming.
• I’ve also been delighted to work on a new piece for Floors and percussion with Niki Johnson. We’ve recorded it and can’t wait to share it with you online and in performance soon.

I’m off to the States and Mexico in May and early June. I’ll be doing a few gigs while I’m there:

Palo Alto, CA: CCRMA Live: 6-7 pm + 7:30 performance on the 12th of May. I’ll be playing from the debut Floors-Iran album, Ocean, Again. Links here and here

Boston, MA: I’m presenting a paper about the performance of two pieces by Cat Hope, adapted for Floors, double bass and bass flute, at the TENOR conference in Boston, and performing my 502 Days piece (co-creating with Dan Pitman) in a new iteration there.

Following, I’ll be in Atlanta to work on on some fun projects with beautiful friends from the Guthman time, and who knows, maybe doing a bit of playing!

Mexico City: NIME in early June will be the debut of a new duo piece with Chloe Sobek, entitled Flightless Path, which we’ll be performing as the closing act in the NIME conference this year. This performance and our presentation about playing large inconvenient instruments is going to be a super fun time. There will be some other work presented while in Mexico City, from Knock Mark Stitch and the new duo!

I’ll be doing the launch shows for the solo album in September and will be back to you with gig dates soon x

I hope you’re all well in the shift over into winter or summer. I listened to some beautiful music this week to help that transition and pivot.
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Love,

Iran
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