Outer Drive (2014)
Brent Lee, Chris McNamara
Outer Drive is a ten-minute work for piano with electroacoustic audio and video. The work exists both in a fixed version and in an interactive version where specific video clips are triggered by the bass notes of the piano. There are streets named Outer Drive in both Windsor, Ontario and Dearborn, Michigan; the video footage captures the austere spaciousness and unsentimental architecture of the suburbs of North American cities. The piano composition in turn creates a sense of expansiveness through the resonance of piano sonorities and through long melodies whose notes connect on multiple levels. The piece was created by Brent Lee and Chris McNamara for Megumi Masaki, as part of the Noiseborder Ensemble’s continuing exploration of the relationship between sound and image.