For string quartet and electonics. 2021. Commissioned by Quartetto Maurice and premiered at Musica en Prossimitá Festival, Pinerolo Italy.

Available as LP/DL/CD on Cibachrome Editions, 2023.

“Vapours” draws from an idiosyncratic and focused sonic language of extended techniques for string instruments to create a meditation on the nature of fluid dynamics as a metaphor for female hysteria. Just-tuned open strings and dissonant harmonic nodes shimmer throughout the piece with electronic processing and spatialized speakers that in effect expand and contract the ensemble. The title contains a double meaning, in the context of fluid dynamics, a “vapor” is a molecule that exists on the verge between a liquid, gaseous or solid state, and the archaic term “vapours” was a pseudo-scientific term to diagnose types of hysteria in women. The composition does not have a fixed score, but rather, a series of musical conditions that are triggered by the players coming together to create a continuous, dynamic sonic space. The players are prompted to visualize vapors in air and to meditate on hysteric fits as they play. A transitory, dynamic molecule, ever-changing and unstable, on the verge of condensation and in a state of constant momentum.