ข้างนอก

This piece makes use of an unusual and hybridised scale and tuning. Its main notes are approximately equally-spaced, and it is thus similar in some ways to tunings used in Thai traditional and other non-Western musics. These seven pitches form the basis of a harmonic field for this work for ensemble and electronic sound, augmented by ‘chromatic’ notes in between. These allow for variation, and the creation of different ‘modes’ which may suggest other musics, albeit in ways which are not exactly ‘in tune’. The title of this piece – roughly ‘outside’ in English – refers to this sense of being outside of any clear musical space, somehow both between places and nowhere at the same time.
I would like to thank Piyawat Louilarpprasert for the invitation to compose this piece, and the wonderful musicians of Taceti for all their help in realising it. I am also grateful to the British Council, which provided funding to support this through workshops and meetings during the pandemic period.