False Self* works are electronic music compositions that explore identity, authorship and the delineation between self and other. The series so far, comprises of three albums:
The first two albums were created in collaboration, and sometimes antagonization, with a self authored SuperCollider algorithm — that I named False Self. I envision this algorithm as a fractured version of myself.
False Self plays music for six pianos was composed whilst undertaking lessons with Jim Denizen Simm. Jim kindly indoctrinated me into his own working methods and some of the methods of his friends, many of whom are ex-Scratch Orchestra members; such as Michael Parsons, John White, Christopher Hobbs and Howard Skempton. These lessons led me to abandon SuperCollider in favour of working with more flexible, and to my mind, more interesting systems designed on paper.
The compositions are experimental, system based works for six pianos. They deploy integer tables to arrange cells of slow, jazzy piano music. Each piano has eight cells of music and one silent cell. The cells mobilize as hypnotic cyclones of repetition, that move in and out of sync, to create complexity from simplicity. As the compositions progress, the cells extinguish themselves in a languid, stuttering fashion — before the process begins anew.
Rudi Arapahoe 2021
Composed, recorded and mixed by Rudi Arapahoe
Performed by False Self
Produced by Jim Denizen Simm
Artwork by Oli Barrett
*The term False Self is lifted from the psychiatrist Ronald David Laing's writing. I use the term to imply that there is another self working on the compositions with me.
Rudi Arapahoe is an English experimental composer, who crafts simple, spacious music that often moves at slow tempos. His False Self compositions, which have been described (by Textura) as ethereal, ominous, and surreal, are electronic works that explore identity — specifically the delineation between self and other. His Plate compositions are miniatures for solo keyboard instruments that can be performed and enjoyed by musicians of all abilities.
