Brent Lee - Homstal (2024)

Homstal is a project that integrates improvisation with electroacoustic composition, fusing the richness of multilayered sonic textures with the intimacy of chamber jazz. The recordings that comprise this album are studio productions that mix and supplement the audio materials used in live performances; each Homstal piece exists in a version that can be presented as an audiovisual environment with space for improvisation and site specificity. The titles of the separate tracks largely refer to the locations where the source video material was gathered.

The Homstal project began in 2012 while working on a film score. I was traveling with the crew as they shot on location in Europe and western Canada; director Kim Nelson’s idea was to include shots of me playing the saxophone while the saxophone could be heard in the soundtrack. While only one of the saxophone scenes was ultimately included in the film, I really liked the combination of soprano sax and ambient electronic textures and began creating a set of pieces I could perform on my own. The first Homstal performance took place the following year during a stay at the Residency Eina Danz in Norway; since then, I have continued to create more pieces in this vein, occasionally presenting them on my own or within performances of the Noiseborder Ensemble, my multimedia group formed in 2008.

Homstal is an Old English word meaning “home” or “homestead”. I like the ring of the word, and since much of the work on this project has been accomplished at my studio in rural Ontario, the name seems apt.