Eli Carlton-Pearson

Evening TV

Bio: Eli Carlton-Pearson is a SF Bay Area based musician, visual artist and instrument builder. Having studied music in a variety of settings (Cambodia, Ali Akbaar College of Hindustani Music, Berklee College of Music) Eli endeavors to incorporate a diverse array of influences into to something of his own. He currently lives in Richmond CA where he teaches, performs, and on occasion, scores short art films about observing the slow unfolding of simple life through a solitary window. 

Website:  https://www.elicarltonpearson.com

Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtZyebIKK9w

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eliartsnfarts/?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Statement:  It is an interesting challenge to write a piece of music to accompany such a gradual and minimalistic film. At first, I was tempted to create a more ongoing pattern to accompany the simplicity and repetativeness of the imagery. Instead I decided to go with a more contemplative space, one that reflects more the internal world of the window gazer; the thoughts that would come in and out of awareness as the world unfolds before them, and the light slowly, unnoticeably, dwindles. 

I wrote the theme on classical guitar, sort of by watching the film, and then by closing my eyes and seeing what feeling was there. Several little vignettes came of this exercise that are spaced throughout the film, like moods, or different aspects of a one mood. The hero of the piece for me is the crystaline voice of the vibraphone. It is clarity amidst a lot of haziness, something to hold on to. I also liked playing with starkness and lushness- beds of chords churning and morphing, and then bright solitary statements, one chord at a time. The vibraphone lends some melody and definition to these rambling harmonic thoughts.

Another element I enjoyed playing with was the diegetic sound of the unseen television in the room. Sometimes it is in concert with the music, sometimes it fades, as our surroundings can do when in deep contemplation. There were some happy accidents with how the music of the television interlaced with the composed music. I always like leaning into things like that. 

Listening back, I quite enjoy the piece. And I never would have written anything like it without this delightful prompt, and the humble sights and sounds of that evening in Pittsburgh.