For many years I have been photographing cracks, stains, mold, rust, and discoloration on manmade and natural objects. I continue to be humbled and deeply inspired by the raw beauty all around us that is often overlooked or taken for granted. For a long time, I didn’t realize that many of my photographs were not of mold, moss, or fungus like I thought they were, but actually of lichens instead. Lichens are beautiful bizarre organisms that are not a plant, moss, mold, or entirely fungus, and they are estimated to cover roughly 6% of the collective Earth’s surface, including objects. They do not have roots and there are thousands of recorded kinds of lichens. As described by the United States Department of Agriculture, “Lichens are a complex life form that is a symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, a fungus and an alga. The dominant partner is the fungus, which gives the lichen the majority of its characteristics...” I focused on eight of the main categories of lichens with distinct characteristics, and used various extended vocal techniques in combination with traditional singing as inspiration and musical material for each of the eight movements. Those categories are: Fruticose (tufts, branch-like shrubs); Crustose (crust-like, close to the surface); Byssoid (wispy); Leprose (powdery); Filamentous (stringy and matted); Gelatinous (jelly-like); Squamulose (clustered, flat, scale-like units); Foliose (flat, leaf-like lobes). Lichens III is the third of the Lichens series and was commissioned by Stephanie Lamprea in 2018.
credits
from Late Night Banter,
released April 17, 2023
Stephanie Lamprea - soprano
Originally from Baltimore, MD, Aaron Jay Myers is a Boston based composer, guitarist, and teacher. Audio, video, scores, and
more info at aaronjaymyers.com
Check out his doom metal / hardcore punk band, Niffin here: niffin.bandcamp.com/releases...more
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