FOR TWO PERCUSSIONISTS AND ELECTRONICS

Important People (Are) From Important Places (2024-2025)¹, commissioned by Line Upon Line Percussion, explores the fractal-like spread of a fictitious, quasi-spiritual movement (an imaginary “cult”) across vast geographical landscapes. The work is a sonic embodiment of collective growth and socio-cultural influence, derived from a simulated model tracking recruitment and ideological propagation over the course of decades. Taking NXIVM as its basis, the piece constructs its own virtual cult that spreads from Albany around the globe using what is known about NXIVM alongside growth processes carefully tuned to simulate realistic trends of dispersal and social propagation. Crucially, the piece envisions an alternate reality in which NXIVM was never dismantled in 2018, projecting into the post-pandemic era fueled by rapid online recruitment and rising extremism. Beginning in 1998, the piece asks what NXIVM would look like if it continued through 2050. 

Inspired by systems theory, Important People (Are) From Important Places maps an emergent behavior of individuals onto sonic parameters. Coordinates of individual recruits are transformed into pitch clusters and organized into timbral spaces defining “sonic centers” of groundswelled activity. Recurring patterns symbolize a tension between the cult’s collective identity and its constituents — each individual unique, yet tethered to a larger, spreading entity. Lulls during global disruptions (e.g., in 2020) punctuate moments of chaotic acceleration. The music unfolds as an evolving map, and invites listeners to perceive patterns, contemplate collective behaviors, and reflect on humanity’s capacity for belief, belonging, propagation, vulnerability, and susceptibility.

¹instrumentation: [perc(2): glock.+wb(3)+2cym(bow); vib.+crot.+wb(3)+bng.+2spr.+foam(bow) / electronics]

Purchase score at Babelscores.com. (forthcoming)