Solomon Kim – Composer

Destroy The Reified Abstract Concrete Superstructure of Doom!

PROGRAM NOTE:

Destroy the Reified Abstract Concrete Superstructure of Doom! is a piece that knows enough to use a lot of big words, but not enough to know what they mean. Set as the last song at an open mic night, the piece pulls influences from shoegaze to contemporary “art music” to jazz and sets them for the baritone sax and electric guitar. Improvisational textures are captured and conformed to the structure of phrase, measure, and tempo. Radical language is captured and repurposed for art — in a similar way, grassroots social movements are co-opted and incorporated into existing institutions and political structures. This piece offers a critique of elements of contemporary music today — but we must also acknowledge that it works in the same language, structure, and history.