I SLEEP, THEREFORE I AM
The piece is based on four dreams that I have had at different times throughout my life. It attempts to showcase and describe each of these dreams in four separate movements, in a fashion similar to how I would describe said dreams if I were to present them to someone.
Each ‘dream’ also explores different means of freedom, each of which is based on how strong my memory of said dream is. A dream I remembered more loosely will have that reflected in its musical and notated material being less certain, and more open; whilst a dream I have a clearer memory of will be notated more precisely (though still not exact – no movement will sound exactly the same every performance).
The four movements, in no particular order, described very briefly:
Machine World – Based on a recurring nightmare I had as a child, where the ground collapsed and I fell into a subterranean machine-like hellscape.
Neon Mountain – A bright, neon-colored landscape consisting of tall mountains and the pink air filled with giant bubbles.
Void – Nothingness. Emptiness. Thoughts drift quickly whilst not succumbing to any stimuli. Stillness is not still.
Shadow Dance – The same way you can mistake a tree for a creature in the darkest of nights, this dream consisted of slender, spiny, shadowy figures, partaking in an unknown ritual.