Songspin Songbook: SSA: Vocal Album

James Lindsay's Sanbiki No Kashikoi Saru for three voices (SSA). Duration: 5 minutes Composed: 2003 Also published as part of UYMP's Songspin Songbook ISMN M 57036 603 3. Commissioned and first performed by Juice Vocal Ensemble at the York Spring Festival of New Music 8th May 2003. The text for this piece is taken from the Japanese myth of the Three Wise Monkeys (sanbiki no kashikoi saru): ‘mi zaru kika zaru iwa zaru’ literally translates as ‘nothing seen nothing heard nothing said’ but is more commonly known as ‘see no evil hear no evil speak no evil’. The piece itself came before the text and takesas its core influence from the music of the Japanese hip hop/drum and bass star DJ Krush centering around a sample from his track ‘Trihedron’ from his 2002 album The Message at the Depth.

David Breslin's Nornir for three voices (SSA). Duration: 10 minutes Composed: 2011 Also published as part of UYMP's Songspin Songbook ISMN M 57036 603 3. I. Urd II. Verdandi III. Skuld In Old Norse mythology Norns are maidens who visit everyone at birth to determine the shape of their lives. The three maidens - urd meaning ‘past’ verdandi meaning ‘present’ and skuld meaning ‘future’ - form a trinity of Fates. First performed by Juice Vocal Ensemble on 8th May 2003 at Heslington Church York as part of York Spring Festival.

Phillip Neil Martin's Human Drum for three voices (SSA). Duration: 3 minutes Composed: 2006 Also published as part of UYMP's Songspin Songbook ISMN M 57036 603 3. Human Drum was a collaboration with the Juice Vocal Ensemble. The piece began in the recording studio where I recorded Juice singing notated fragments I’d popped together and also their own improvisations. I then edited and cut up all the audio into very tiny fragments in a myriad of ways to make a short rhythm-based electronic 3 part vocal piece. This forms part of my larger work Voices of the Asylum for voices human beatbox electronics fashion andspace. The final track bares very little resemblance to the original recording studio session. Several weeks after I had finished Human Drum Juice asked me to transcribe the audio so they could sing the piece live (which wasn’t easy to do after all the cutting and processing!) therefore coming full circle! There are now two versions of Human Drum the studio electronic track and the ‘live’ notated version. Human Drum is dedicated to the Juice Vocal Ensemble with affection. First performed by Juice Vocal Ensemble on 3rd May 2007 at York Spring Festival Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall University of York.

Kerry Andrew's Luna-cy for three voices (SSA). Duration: 5 minutes Composed: 2001 Also published as part of UYMP's Songspin Songbook ISMN M 57036 603 3. A cuckoo called: I looked towards the sound but only the moon of the dawn was there. Fujiwara Sanesada. Translation by Geoffrey Bownas and Anthony Thwaite from ‘The Penguin Book of Japanese Verse’ (Penguin Books 1964 Revised edition 1998 2009). Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. I had an animalistic expression of madness in mind for this piece. The Japanese tanka above seemed to encapsulate the idea of madness associated with themoon ('lunar'= 'lunacy') and with cuckoos.

Sarah Dacey's Cruel Brother for three voices (SSA). Duration: 4 minutes Composed: 2011 Also published as part of UYMP's Songspin Songbook ISMN M 57036 603 3. The only two recordings I found of this ballad were very different from one another and as I wasn’t really sure I liked either of them I decided to compose my own version and amend the lyrics.

Morag Galloway's Dream of You for three voices (SSA). Duration: 2 minutes Composed: 2004 Also published as part of UYMP's Songspin Songbook ISMN M 57036 603 3. Dream of You sets Morag's own poem and was commissioned by Juice for performance in a late night concert 'the witching hour' in York Spring Festival May 2004. The poem describes a dream in which a single night with someone is remembered. The compositional aim was to set the words as they came without repetition and not to repeat any musical material either. This was to try to recreate the strange familiarity of this dream and attemptto let it unfold in ‘real time’; to be as fleeting as the original night itself.