Practice led research into stream-form composition methods, freeassociation, and synaesthesia in audio/visual compostion.

.haul / S is a portfolio of audio/visual works, all with a common start point, synaesthesia: a
powerful and highly personal phenomenon. In this portfolio I examine my own synaesthetic perceptions of sound and image, and how they direct my compositional decisions and aesthetic tastes. These perceptions, and the resulting compositions, are compared to the experiences of synaesthete composers, and their goals in composing from such an abstract source material, as well as synaesthetes not engaged in musical
endeavours. In doing so, I speculate how the act of making from such personal, abstract, and ultimately indescribable and unsharable experiences affects an audience’s reception
of the pieces produced. As such, I produce works that are as close to being about nothing as I could posit: pieces that feature no defined subject, theme, or narrative, outside of their constituent parts. This nothingness, or lack of concrete reference is speculative, aiming to open discussion on perception and synaesthesia (which I do not consider a special condition only experienced by few), and strives to inform further work actively influenced by this composer/audience feedback loop.

The compositions in this portfolio are also the result of practice-led research into stream
form composition methods, and examinations of free-association in audio/visual composition. The aim of this research is to open discussion on intuitive composition practices, and composers’ aesthetic judgments and decisions when producing a work. It also examines synaesthesia as a compositional tool, as a means of suggesting further research in a field which is still poorly understood.