Wednesday 1 August 2018, 7.30pm
McCann was born in California in 1988 in a small beach town called Goleta. He now resides in Los Angeles. He has been publishing albums since 2007, utilizing an array of instruments including violin, piano, & voice.
His first fully realized album, Music for Private Ensemble (2013), found the artist multi-tracking and performing dozens of layers of instruments and sounds to form a one-man orchestra. The logical follow-up album, Music for Public Ensemble (2016), lassoed in 30 other musicians to join in and puzzle together a 2xLP of lush chamber works, choral pieces, & text-sound compositions. Appearing on this album were Andrew Chalk, Ian William Craig, Graham Lambkin, Sarah Davachi and more. Previous releases have been published on Root Strata, Aguirre Records, and Students of Decay.
Composition has been keeping McCann busy in 2018, premiering the ten-person ensemble work "Portraits of Friars" at Fylkingen in Stockholm, Sweden as part of Edition Festival. The piece toggles between ugly poetic recitation and courtly musical passages. In 2017, he premiered "Vilon" for chamber quintet performed by the KYMATIC Ensemble in Moscow, Russia.
In 2012 he formed the record label Recital, which has published dozens of LPs and books with an emphasis on new music, sound poetry, & sound art, examining the similarities and differences between the pastoral and the bizarre. Recent LPs showcase works by Daniel Schmidt, Charlie Morrow, Loren Connors, and Fluxus artist Dick Higgins.
"Saccharine Scores," McCann's new album, will be released on Recital in the fall of 2018. It holds four compositions, including the aforementioned "Portraits of Friars." The CD is housed in a 130-page book, holding photographs, scores, and poetry associated with the pieces. The first edition is numbered and signed, limited to just 200 copies.
Matthew Sullivan is a sound artist from Los Angeles currently based in London. He has recorded under the moniker Earn and is a frequent collaborator with fellow LA artist Sean McCann. His 2016 LP Skene (Recital) is a collage of obscured narratives implementing cassette manipulation and voice cut-ups within instrumental and percussive motifs. Sullivan curated the Ekhein imprint between 2007-2012. In recent years he has performed at The Hammer Museum and the MOCA Geffen Center as well as curating numerous public and private events in Los Angeles.
