Racer Session #530 | Modality (MT/VA) | May 2, 2021

On the first Sunday of every month from 5-6pm PST, the Racer Sessions (Seattle) and the FreeSessions (Missoula) unite to host a collaborative session on Zoom! A new featured artist presents a short set to begin the session, followed by a free-improv-based jam session that is open to all. Each month’s opening performer will also choose a social justice organization/cause that we will learn more about and direct donations toward for the month.

This month we are really looking forward to presenting the quartet Modality! Here's what they had to say about what they’ve prepared:

“The 4 members of Modality have been living in 3 different cities since 2013, and so we were veterans at playing telematically when the pandemic hit. We’ve used several types of software and found that we can write, practice, and even perform with relatively low latency. Still, low latency is not zero latency, and it can be challenging to hit marks at times. Our process has always involved harvesting and developing musical ideas born from improvisations, and interestingly the technology has yielded some happy accidents where we realize listening back to a practice that the shift in timing adds something more than playing it straight up and down. Much of our music moves between beat driven, pop/rock-adjacent songs informed by electronic and global rhythms, and more ambient, experimental sonic excursions that rely on chance, improvisation, and technology. The performance we are sharing with you is from the recent conference held by the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the US (SEAMUS) and reflects this duality of our approach, and features the benefits and limitations of playing live over the internet.

“In the session, we invite players to listen to the digital hiccups, timing lags, and other issues we’ve all had with Zoom over the past year as opportunities for creative expression and enjoyment, rather as barriers to our expected norms for musical communication.”

Following Modality’s set, the organizers will facilitate an open jam session until 6pm PT for anyone who would like to improvise!

Session donations will be directed towards Indian People's Action.

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To learn more about the FreeSessions and its parent organization, Lakebottom Sound, visit: http://lakebottomsound.org/the-freesessions/