SYMMTR came to me by intention. I didn’t want to think of a name to publish electronic music under, I wanted to arrive at one. The name had to stick under heavy rains of doubt. There’s no perfect name, but it’s not just arbitrary.
Sym is a Greek prefix meaning together, or in union. A great example is symphony, meaning sound in unity.
“Symmtr” is always auto-corrected by the computer to symmetry. Dropping the e and the y emphasizes the word meter, so it means literally meter in unity. Being a lot of MIDI driven music, it’s like a symphony of meter that becomes sound in the computer.
The phrase “precarious symmetry” was floating around my head when I decided to take on a name for music.
Throughout my life, I’ve floated the balance of precariousness with shit working out as if by some divine symmetry. That is also a lot of the music I make. Projects like Death Worth Living were unstructured improvisation, much like my life, the music somehow comes together. Sometimes it’s messy and displeasing, but it’s life.
Although SYMMTR is much more structured and is built in controlled computer software, there is still a huge improvisational element to my process. That’s when it feels the best.
I previously posted Sonny’s Plan on Bandcamp, where I discuss how I produced each track, but the purpose of this post is to discuss the introduction of a new artistic identity.
Aside from my 2009 release with Kelly Slusher as Imra, I’ve never published to streaming services until now.
The story of SYMMTR really begins after Imra. I also produced an EP of Kelly’s music while we were taking a break from Imra. That break became permanent, but so did my interest in computer driven music. I learned a lot from the catalyst of Kelly, so I wasn’t about to let go of my experience gained using Ableton, Reason, Cubase, and Logic. Most tracks include some performance from the Arp Odyssey, but mostly, it all is generated from stock software.
The first SYMMTR LP Sonny’s Plan represents this slowly formed identity between 2010 until 2020. Most of the music that I have made in life is without clear meter, performed and composed in the same instant, it is “experimental” and “avant-garde.” This content is a departure from that, and in a sense, more experimental to me personally.
Every song on this LP was put out originally in a half-hearted way, as a SoundCloud drop, or Bandcamp, without much regard for cover art. There wasn’t a serious intention, I was just anxious to get songs on my profiles. I grouped these together, in every case possible going back into the sessions to revise the mix, before remastering every song together.
The second release as SYMMTR was produced in 2022, a single/EP called Topaz. This includes two remixes, one from All The Stores Are Closed, the other from Matchewey. They could not have taken more opposing directions, the prior going full force Jazz House style, and the latter going Down Tempo.
The next slated release is a sister single/EP set to have two remixes as well. I am still waiting on the second remix for that track.
Building a remix pack and making it accessible to fellow producers was a valuable experience, something traditional to the electronic music scene, and I look forward to doing more of that.
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