The Squiggle Game, by Alexander MacSween

The Squiggle Game

by Alexander MacSween

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$7 CAD or more

1.	That Gum You Like 04:29	buy track
2.	Eleanor Bone 02:56
3.	Love Me On Tuesday 03:29	buy track
4.	White Bear 02:19	buy track
5.	Uncle Flabbius 02:01	buy track
6.	Crocodiles 05:00	buy track
7.	Scarsdale 04:47	buy track
8.	The Poacher's Dream 05:24	buy track
9.	Under The Plum Tree 01:41	buy track
10.	Onward 03:48	buy track
11.	DCVI 02:44	buy track

about

From The Squiggle Game liner notes:

Soon after beginning work on this record I experienced a stifling creative block characterised not by an absence of inspiration but by an excess of ideas as to what it could be. Seeking a strategy to overcome this I asked Fabrizio Gilardino, co-owner of et records and designer of its album covers, to design a cover in advance of the music. I proposed this would be done complete with titles and durations for each piece, invented by Fabrizio, as well as credits for guest musicians of his own choosing. My task would then be to create the music that fit within these parameters. Fabrizio obliged enthusiastically and a few months later I received a draft of a blue and gold cover for a record called Dust that contained thirteen tracks with very inventive titles.

Although the plan worked well initially, I soon began to feel constrained, particularly by the titles and durations of the pieces, which seemed more and more in conflict with the music that was emerging. I persevered but soon realised it was pointless to let the music be compromised by a set of rules that were meant to inspire it.

At this time I was reading about the English psychoanalyst, Donald Winnicott, who played a game with his child patients in which he would draw a squiggle on a piece of paper then ask the children to continue the drawing. He called this ‘the squiggle game’. Reading this, it occurred to me that Fabrizio’s album cover and the included information, rather than functioning as a kind of musical colouring book, could be treated as a set of squiggles on which I could elaborate more freely.

Neither the original graphics nor any of the original titles remain, although many of the durations are quite close to the originals. The only thing unchanged from the original cover is the inclusion of the three exceptional musicians whose contribution to this record is, more than anything, what made it what it is. Corinne, Nicolas and Sam, merci, merci, merci.

credits

released March 15, 2015

Alexander MacSween rhythm programming . sampler . tom toms . keyboards . voice . drum set (3). marimba (10)

Corinne René marimba (3, 5, 6, 11) . wood blocks, drum set (1) .
tympani (2, 4) . bowed gong (7) . cymbal (8, 10) .
percussion (8) . bowed vibraphone (9)

Nicolas Caloia contrabass . Univox MaxiKorg (2, 11)

Sam Shalabi electric guitar (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 ,10) .
nylon-string guitar (5, 6, 9, 11)

Composed, recorded and mixed by Alexander MacSween
September and October 2014, Montreal
Masterd by Harris Newman at greymarket mastering

Design . Fabrizio Gilardino
Illustration . Michal MacSween
Silkscreen Printing . Simon Bossé / Mille Putois
Executive Producers . Michel F Côté + FG
et records 21
www.etrecords.net
Alexander MacSween . © SOCAN 2015

license

about

Alexander MacSween Montreal, Québec

Alexander MacSween is a Montreal-based composer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist. He also makes sound installations and collaborates frequently with dance and theatre artists.

alexandermacsween.com

discography

Eph Em Air

Jan 2023
FURIES

Nov 2022
The Squiggle Game

Mar 2015

contact / help

Contact Alexander MacSween

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Alexander MacSween, you may also like:

Introducing SVIN
by SVIN

Danish avant-garde crew SVIN explore far-out new lands on their latest, the sound of a galaxy folding in on itself in cut time. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 16, 2022
go to album
Mouth Full of Glass (2022)
by Macie Stewart

Contemplative indie folk with crystalline melodies given a lift by guests like Ben Lamar Gay and Sen Morimoto. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 23, 2022
go to album
Volume Único
by Música de Selvagem ft. Sessa, Tim Bernardes, Luiza Lian, Pedro Pastoriz

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 14, 2022
go to album
Mouth Full of Glass
by Macie Stewart

Chicago's Macie Stewart (Ohmme) makes luminous, delicate jazz-inflected folk music on her latest solo LP. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 28, 2021
go to album
No Base Trio
by No Base Trio

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jul 14, 2020
go to album
heart/noise
by Sensaround

Experimental jazz, eerie dub, and clattering post-punk come together on the electro-acoustic trio's vast new album. Bandcamp New & Notable May 1, 2019
go to album
Lives
by St Celfer™

St Celfer returns with tracks culled from a series of live shows, each one a showcase for his inventive experimentalism. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 26, 2023
go to album