The Ascendant
2012 and 2016 (31:15)
Text by Maria Zajkowski
8 voices, drum kit
Commissioned by Roomful of Teeth

In 2012 and 2016, Wally wrote a set of 6 songs called ‘The Ascendant‘ for the incredible 8-piece vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, using the gorgeous poetry of Maria Zajkowski (their first collaboration, of sorts). The ensemble took a shine to the songs, and they have performed them a lot over the past few years.

Some time ago, they recorded the songs (joined by the superlative Jason Treuting of Sō Percussion on drum kit) and now, after a long time in the works, New Amsterdam Records have released the recording as a stand-alone EP in two formats: on limited-edition vinyl, and as a digital download. It’s really a beautiful recording, produced by the brilliant Jesse Lewis, and mastered by Randall Squires, and it plainly shows the virtuosity of these singers.

To purchase a copy of the vinyl or the digital download, click here.

The Ascendant (31:15)
The beginning and (05:00)
The fence is gone (04:45)
Through the night wave (05:00)
What we began (04:30)
Are we death (05:15)
Surviving death (06:45)

Program Notes

By 2012, I’d been stuck for a while, trying to figure out what kind of music it was that I really wanted to make. My favorite music is music that in some way makes me feel strong feelings; music that moves me. So, when the opportunity to write for Roomful of Teeth arose late in 2012, I set about the task with a question in mind: In my favorite vocal music, what is it that really moves me? When I started making sketches, a few things began to pique my interest. One was exploring how voices can create rhythm and momentum by moving in counterpoint, in hockets, echoes, canons, rounds, and ostinati. When I hear voices moving in counterpoint like this—in all different cultures, eras, and genres, but especially in the Renaissance and Baroque era of Western music—it always thrills me. I did a lot of exercises writing simple little rounds, to see what happens when a line loops around and becomes counterpoint to the next line, then made attempts at trickier ones, where more expansive lines set both pitch and rhythm in counterpoint, so the layered loops weave together to create composite melodies. Alongside these experiments, I found myself formulating a harmonic language that was, without doubt, descended from the 80s British new wave music and 90s American grunge music I love. Applying these angular harmonies to voices created a sound world that felt rich and new. But the piece really began to take shape once I started using Maria Zajkowski’s text. Maria’s work is spare, detached, taut with restraint, but spiked with devastating releases of feeling which can make your stomach drop, as if you are suddenly in freefall. Her poems stay with you; they have a way of getting under your skin and leaving you unsettled, haunted. The poems from her collection ‘The Ascendant’ are like this too. While remaining emotionally powerful, they have an elegant economy to them, and this means the words can be readily sung. Sometimes it felt like the lines sang themselves to me. Also, with some prodding, each poem seemed to fall into stanzas, like verses and choruses, and thus seemed neatly to suggest song forms. The songs in ‘The Ascendant’ are very special to me. This is partly because, during their creation, I stumbled upon something that feels like an authentic compositional voice: a combination of polyphonic patterns and processes, blended with the angularity and clarity of rock music harmonies and forms. Something about this combination felt like the beginning of a new chapter for me. And ‘The Ascendant’ is also special to me because it initiated enduring collaborative relationships, both with poet Maria Zajkowski, and the wonderful folks in Roomful of Teeth. — WG, 2020

Instrumentation
Soprano, soprano, alto, alto, tenor, baritone, baritone, bass
drum kit

Roomful of Teeth
Cameron Beauchamp, bass
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Martha Cluver, soprano
Eric Dudley, tenor
Estelí Gomez, soprano
Avery Griffin, baritone
Caroline Shaw, alto
Virginia Warnken, alto
Brad Wells, conductor and artistic director
roomfulofteeth.org

with
Jason Treuting, drum kit

The Ascendant . Catalogue 108 . Copyright © 2012 and 2016 . Wally Gunn and Maria Zajkowski