"Composed on software platforms like Max/MSP, his pieces are rigorously formalist in nature, their shapes largely determined by the interaction of elements within closed systems. Even in the absence of understanding just what makes his music tick, one intuits the action of inscrutable processes at work, arcane rules generating sequences that unspool at the speed of black MIDI. To listen to Mark Fell often feels like standing in the shadow of the mathematical sublime."
"Still, while the effects may be bracing, titles like Periodic orbits of a dynamic system related to a knot suggest a cool-headed researcher in the background, his hands stuffed in lab-coat pockets while his machines whip themselves into a frenzy. As he recently told Tone Glow of his approach: "It's less about the construction of emotion or meaning or storytelling and more about foregrounding the characteristics of the process and technology.""
"But Fell's new album Psychic Resynthesis marks a major shift in his work: It was written for, and performed by, the players in Explore Ensemble, a London chamber group appearing here as a sextet for flute, clarinet, piano, violin, viola, and cello. This isn't the first time he's written for human musicians; his 2018 album Intra, for an ensemble of microtonal metallophones, was recorded by percussionists interpreting software-generated audio patterns, which they listened to on headphones while playing."
Mark Fell sculpts electronic sound from shards, fragments, and slivers into arrhythmic bursts using software such as Max/MSP. His pieces operate through rigorously formalist processes and closed systems, producing sequences that suggest inscrutable, rule-based behavior. Titles and statements emphasize foregrounding process and technology over constructed emotion or narrative. Psychic Resynthesis marks a notable turn toward chamber instrumentation, written for Explore Ensemble as a sextet of flute, clarinet, piano, violin, viola, and cello. Earlier projects like Intra paired software-generated patterns with percussionists; the new work continues process-driven aesthetics while engaging human performers and classical instrumentation.
Read at Pitchfork
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