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Stutter as Instrument: Ellis's Musical Revolution
11 Dec
Summary
- Composer JJJJJerome Ellis uses speech dysfluency as a musical element.
- Ellis's new album 'Vesper Sparrow' explores time via speech pauses.
- The work draws parallels between Blackness, stuttering, and music.
JJJJJerome Ellis, a Grenadian-Jamaican-American artist, has released their second album, 'Vesper Sparrow,' deepening their unique artistic exploration of speech dysfluency. Ellis views their stutter, marked by involuntary glottal blocks, not as a limitation but as a deliberate musical instrument capable of manipulating time and fostering intimacy.
Building on their 2021 debut 'The Clearing,' this new work is a more focused, poetic prose piece. It showcases how Ellis's theories on 'clearings'—linking Blackness, dysfluency, and music—inform their practice. The album investigates how stutters can suspend time for both performer and listener, creating new pathways for connection.
'Vesper Sparrow' features techniques like granular synthesis, demonstrated in the four-part 'Evensong.' Ellis describes the creative process, breaking down original recordings into sound 'grains' that disintegrate and then reassemble, mirroring the fragmented yet connected nature of speech and memory.
