Blaine L. Reininger - The Blue Sleep (2018)

"Written and recorded by Blaine in 2017, the album was mixed in his adopted hometown of Athens by noted electronic music producer Coti K. Like most of his previous solo projects, The Blue Sleep combines vocal songs with atmospheric instrumental tracks, three of which (Lost Ballroom, Jacob’s Ladder and Odi et Amo) were written for Caligula, a theatre production.

"These days the music plays me," explains Blaine. “The unifying principle behind the songs on Blue Sleep is the method of composition. I apply fine old aleatory techniques – John Cage, William Burroughs, Tristan Tzara – and filter these through my instinctive knowledge of melody and harmony. Lyrics are generated algorithmically (I work with programs which assemble phrases according to mathematical rules) and then edited by me, with phrases suggested by the random output. That’s pretty much my modus operandi in the 21st century.”