tQ is proud to bring to you the latest track from Leo Chadburn. tQ is not proud to bring to you the latest track from Leo Chadburn. It’s a cover of New York experimental composer Travis Just’s 2011 piece "Paul Pierce." It is not a cover of New York experimental composer Travis Just’s 2011 piece "Paul Pierce." Listen above. It’ll all make sense. It won’t make any sense.
Leo Chadburn says he’s from a distant planet, and while he contradicts himself immediately afterwards, I’m inclined to believe the first part. This song is wigged out, the lyrics successful in making all of our neuroses seem minuscule in comparison and the queasy instrumentation only adding to the effect. When everything collapses into static and frantic whispers, oooof! I haven’t been that spooked by a song since I clicked a YouTube link for "Hamburger Lady" expecting some bitchin’ NIN-style "alt rock."
Being the intern and not yet jaded enough to dismiss a piece of music beyond my ken for that sole reason – especially one from a fellow tQ writer! – I let the song sit with me a for a day and asked Chadburn for a press release. He obliged by kindly providing a biography. Particularly illuminating: "My idea is to… [respond] to this idea of spoken/sung/projected text that derives from sources outside the usual scope of music – absolutely, resolutely, there will be no settings of poetry."
