When I see the works of Mark Keffer from the No Us series, one word comes to mind: Baroque. These
miraculous paintings are complex, multi-layered and busy, with imitative counterpoint and an overall sense that
everything is controlled — nothing left to chance.
I may as well be describing my own compositions. As a creator of new music in a Neobaroque style, I
appreciate Keffer’s attention to detail, formality of presentation, and elegant color choices. But what I find most
special about his work is its Futuristic scope, reminiscent of computer motherboards or panels of a spaceship.
This aspect of Keffer’s work inspired me to take my music further into a realm of what I imagine music to sound
like in a millennium from now. And that’s where this project began: I re-instrumentated my work with old
MIDI sounds, sped it up so it would be out of the realm of human performance, added elastic tempo changes
that would be nearly impossible for any ensemble of musicians to hold together, and fragmented the music by
injecting space/silences.
In this way, the paintings of Mark Keffer had a profound impact on my musical output; it created a path for my
current compositions to stand out from the rest of my oeuvre. I never anticipated a visual medium would
prompt such a drastic new direction, but it also makes sense when you’re making music unlike anything you’ve
ever heard before.
Classical Composer
