...if you do | for flute and electronics

...if you do was inspired by a place in Grand County, Utah called Jackass Joe’s—without a doubt, one of the most surreal spots I’ve ever seen. In the middle of the desert, you suddenly come across

a neon-green building with Lightning McQueen parked out front. Step inside, and you’re hit with a psychedelic mash-up of colors, strange memorabilia, and nods to cryptids like Bigfoot—and most

prominently, aliens.

I’ve been obsessed with aliens since I was a kid. The mysteries of space have always fascinated me, but it was discovering old interviews with physicist Bob Lazar that really pulled me in. Lazar,

who claimed to work near the infamous Area 51, gave one of the few glimpses into the kind of secrets that might be buried out there. This piece features snippets from a 1989 news interview

with him, layered into a sound world that echoes the strange wonder of stumbling on Jackass Joe’s.

There’s also a pulse of rock and roll running through the music—something gritty, raw, and a little rebellious. It felt right for a piece about uncovering the unknown, and about a place that feels like it shouldn’t exist, but somehow does.