presence of your absence

presence of your absence is a swirling wordless grief gremlin. It’s a singing through the heaviness, a holding of all sorts of absences that weigh thick upon me. The loss of my father, my cat, my (now ex) partner’s father, and one of my first composition mentors. The difficulty of tending to a romantic partnership aching with distance—both geographical and emotional. It’s a stumbling, reaching for grounding, reaching for joy, for pleasure.

performed December 3, 2024 in Taplin Auditorium at Princeton University

mixing and mastering by Matthew Parrish