Author: WKNC Admin

Colin Stetson’s All This I Do For Glory

Odd, chilling, and trance-like, this album gives additional height to the distinguished instrumentalist Colin Stetson. I like this album because its theme is clear, yet riddled with questions. Each track has a looped melody, but the listener gets to hear all of the intricacies and imperfections of a wind player in what would normally be pre-programmed. The heavily distorted, slow sounds of the baritone saxophone are integrated with melodic jumps, making the slightest change hardly noticeable.

Stetson tries to answer where the saxophone belongs in the age of electronic music. The saxophone, for the most part, has struggled to coexist with the synthesizer, electric guitar, and keyboard, and has yet to find a solidified part amongst the biggest players. Though electronic ensembles such as Syrinx, GRiZ, and Moon Hooch have made their contributions to incorporating the saxophone into electronic music, Colin Stetson seems to bridge the sonic barrier between the fundamental differences between the synthesizer and the saxophone. With his creative use of extended technique, he transforms his sound into something that could be played alongside the computer musicians of today.