Saxophonist Bryan McNamara picked up a book of Williams Carlos Williams poetry as a senior in high school for English class. He’d carry the book around with him, fervently reading its austere language and compelling descriptions of nature. Years later, he returned to those cherished words to write Locust Tree for his grandmother’s birthday—the two of them discuss nature together quite often. And while he doesn’t consider himself a composer, per se, writing Locust Tree was a way of applying a new creative lens to a work he’s loved for ages, celebrating his grandmother and satisfying his long-held interest in exploring time. When he received Metropolis Ensemble’s call for the House Music series, he knew this was the piece he wanted to turn to; its spacious texture was exactly what he needed during the chaos of the early COVID-19 pandemic.

McNamara first performed with Metropolis in February 2018, when they played William Brittelle’s Spiritual America at New York’s Symphony Space. His roommate, friend, and Singularity bandmate, saxophonist Cole Belt, got the call to play on the program and invited McNamara to play, too. When McNamara heard they’d be performing alongside indie rock duo Wye Oak, he was thrilled—he’d been a fan of their work for quite some time. Since that initial performance, he’s done about a project a year with Metropolis, and has loved the creativity and collaborative spirit of the group.

Writing Locust Tree was a culmination of years of developing a creative voice, and years of allowing an interest in rhythm blossom. McNamara remembers working a summer job at a McDonald’s drive through and practicing hemiolas while he waited for customers. He wanted to get really good at complex, fast-paced rhythmic music; now, he finds himself gravitating towards longer, more sprawling sounds. At the time of composing Locust Tree, he found himself listening to the ecstatic leaps of works by David Lang and the drawn-out, soft sounds of Eva Maria Houben’s golden sun. Locust Tree acts as an homage to those works, and to Williams’s poetry, packaged together into a ruminative, ever-evolving sound. — Vanessa Ague

 
Episode: 18
Date: May 28, 2020
Artist: Bryan McNamara
Instrumentation: Saxophone
Work: "Locust Tree"
Composer: Bryan McNamara
Location: Plainsboro, NJ
 

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