Episode 87 — February 16, 2021
Matt Evans: from "New Topographics" for percussion
Performed by Matt Evans

Percussionist and composer Matt Evans released his debut full-length album, New Topographics, in spring 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. The record’s watery language is an exploration of the intersections of philosophy, visual art, and music, and amalgamates acoustic and digital languages. After its release, he began virtually performing a version of the record that’s been translated for drumset, working with his roommate, Robert Ouyang Rusli (OHYUNG), to create a visual language to match the music. This House Music series video, which was filmed during summer 2020, presents selections from New Topographics in the improvisatory drumset style Evans developed, alongside the imagery Rusli dreamed up.

Evans first worked with Metropolis Ensemble in the fall of 2019, when he performed with the group during Eaux Claires Hiver, which was part of the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival that was founded by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner. It was there that he was able to intimately work with a small group of talented musicians on a variety of works, from new compositions and improvisations to Prince covers to bits of New Topographics. Being away from the hustle-and-bustle of New York allowed him to really get to know the musicians, and he hopes to work with many of the artists he met there again in the future.

This video is a snapshot of the virtual improvisation and performance-style Evans cultivated during 2020. It’s also a snapshot of his lifestyle at the time: Lysol spray cans, gloves, the faint hum of summer fireworks can all be found hiding in it. Even a skateboard video game he and Rusli were obsessed with while everything was shut down whips across the screen. The video’s pink-hued visuals pair well with Evans’s undulating music, providing a continual sense of kinetic energy, and most of all, a fun glimpse into the artist’s world during the summer of 2020.

Notes by Vanessa Ague

 
House Music: Bite-sized concerts recorded at homes around the world

In 2020-21, we created a weekly video series featuring short-form concerts of newly-commissioned works, supporting 208 artists around the world during the pandemic.