On I was a figure, composer, vocalist, and electric toy organist Molly Joyce teams up with her friend, the writer Marco Grosse, to create a work that explores acquired and congenital disability. Originally composed to be a dance collaboration with Jerron Herman, I was a figure is heard here as Joyce’s solo, performed in her parent’s basement in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania using her vintage toy organ and voice.
Joyce has a storied history with Metropolis Ensemble. Their artistic collaboration began three years ago with a launch concert of Joyce’s 2017 EP, Lean Back and Release, and she further explored the styles featured on this EP with her 2020 full-length album, Breaking and Entering. Joyce then curated a concert series during the 2018/19 season at Metropolis’ space 1 Rivington entitled Light, highlighting the wide-ranging, innovative, and socially motivated work of artists today, focusing mainly on presenting music made by women. Molly and Metropolis also have an upcoming project, Visual Poemusic, which is a cross-disciplinary project that commissions a cohort of composers to write music to accompany the movements of Deaf poets.
Joyce and Herman both experience weaker left sides; I was a figure was originally a way for both of them to express their lived experiences through art, discussing the complex range of emotions they’ve felt and their ultimate embrace of their bodies. In presenting I was a figure, Joyce hopes to bridge the experiences explored in the piece with the broader world we occupy today, especially the uncertainty we’ve felt through the COVID-19 pandemic. She illustrates the contours of emotional depth with a powerful wash of electronics, creating an intimacy through colorfully painted harmonies and gradually developed layers of radiant sound.
Episode: 04Date: April 9, 2020Artist: Molly JoyceInstrumentation: Voice, Toy OrganWork: “I was a figure” (2019)Composer: Molly JoyceLocation: Pittsburgh, PAMore from House Music