This being a dance project, my mission was of course to create music that was compelling yet immersive, consonant with the action onstage without calling attention to itself. I employed a culturally broad palette of instrumental sounds to express grief as something dealt with in a variety of ways, mixing European, Ameircan, Indian, and African instrumentation.

Some of these samples are quite long, unfolding gradually to accompany choreography as opposed to offering "quick glimpses" of the work.

For the "bargaining" stage (audio below), Conlin imagines the dancers as orphans in the woods. I created this piece in response, invoking cross-cultural acoustic instrumentation from a variety of cultures (banjo, kalimba, vibraphone, a variety of percussion) as well as the sound of crickets outside my mom's house in Ohio.

This piece (audio below), accompanying the "anger" stage, incorporates the most abrasive, aggressive noise I've been able to conjure. Vocal samples were provided by Brian Evans, who dances solo for much of the segment.