Aaron Cassidy — A Way Of Making Ghosts

Aaron Cassidy is an American composer whose work sits at the crossroads of intense modern classic music & searing improv. A Way Of Making Ghosts is a CD release from late 2022, which features eight works from the composer- and it’s most certainly a wild and often manic ride.

The release appears on Austria’s Kairos-with the cover art taking in an orange & black waveform illustration. As always with a Kairos release, we get a glossy stuck in the digipack booklet- this runs at thirty-nine pages- taking in bios about both the composer and the musicians that play the works. As well as piece scores, and write-ups about each of them. With text in both German & English.
 
The release opens up with the two-piece work “A Way Of Making Ghosts”( 2018-2020), which has a joint runtime of twenty-six minutes. The first part is played by Ensemble Musikfabrick, and is a trip into manic honking, busy 'n' fiery fiddling, and brutal swoon ‘n’ slice. The second is played by the Elision Ensemble, and is even more chaotic built around rapid piano key darts, forceful trumpeting, and darting honk 'n' wail.
 
By track four we’re onto 2019’s “A Republic Of Space”- this is played by the Jack Quartet, and the eight-and-a-half-minute piece is built around an uneven sonic map of neck fiddle, grates, creaks, and scuttling wails. With the track sounding like some strange creature rapidly stretching, forming then re-forming into slighty different shapes. 

The CD plays out with three track “The Wreak Of Former Boundaries”(2015- 2016) which has a joint runtime of thirteen minutes. With the Elision Ensemble playing all three tracks. The first track is for solo contrabass, and is all violent bows, saws, and neck taps. The second track is for solo alto sax, and is all baying flirt ‘n’ fiddle. And the third is for steel guitar & electronics, which is a very shredding, stretching, and baying tone sailing affair. 
 
A Way Of Making Ghosts is a nerve-shredding 'n' teeth-grating journey into where the modern classic form meets improv. It's most definitely not a safe, or formally pleasing trip- but if you enjoy a bit of sonic sadism, you’ll find enjoyment here.