Patrick Higgins (musician)
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Patrick Higgins is an American
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
composer, guitarist, and producer from
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, known for his work in experimental and
contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...
. Higgins plays guitar and composes in Zs, described by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as "one of the strongest avant-garde bands in New York." Heralded as a "formidable concert music composer" and "one of the most gifted guitarists working today", Higgins has received attention for bridging traditions including baroque chamber music, contemporary noise, and 20th century minimalism.


Early life and career

Higgins was born in 1984 in Manhattan and attended high school at the
Urban School of San Francisco Urban School of San Francisco is an independent coeducational high school located in the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco, California. History Urban was founded in 1966 by a group of Marin Country Day School parents. Urban has grown fro ...
. He returned to New York City in 2002 to attend
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, earning a B.A. in Philosophy and an M.A. in Comparative Literature. In 2004, Higgins and Alexander Perrelli formed the duo project Animal. They released their eponymous debut on Unfun Records in 2006, with a second release, the Archaeopteryx split ''Horror Orr'', following a year later. In 2007, Higgins recorded an album of video game-inspired music titled ''Monkey Mountain'' (ELE Records, 2012).


Music

In 2012, Higgins joined a new trio configuration of long-running New York ensemble Zs, touring with the group across 20 countries. The first Zs record to feature Higgins was ''Grain'', released on Northern Spy in 2014. Higgins co-composed, produced, and played guitar for Zs' 2015 album '' Xe'', the band's most critically acclaimed record to date. ''Xe'' was praised by publications including ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', '' Pitchfork'', and ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', which included the album in its Best Avant-Garde Records of 2015. The album and artwork for ''Xe'' were purchased by the
SF MOMA The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary a ...
and are part of the museum's permanent collection. As a composer, Higgins often uses his own work as raw material for further experimentation. In 2013, Ex Cathedra Records released a double LP of Higgins' ''String Quartet No.2'', featuring Mivos Quartet, along with ''Glacia'', an electronic re-composition of the quartet performance. Higgins furthered the concepts informing ''Glacia'' on 2015's ''Social Death Mixtape'' (NNA), this time presenting remixes of his own compositions without the untreated source materials (which included unreleased works for harpsichord, string ensemble, and guitar). ''
Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...
'' gave the album's "forays into avant-noise-classical-electronics" 4 out of 5 stars. Higgins composed the score for the feature film '' As You Are'' (dir. by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte), which was awarded the prestigious Special Jury Prize at the 2016
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
. He premiered ''Hyperborea'', a work for string orchestra and live electronics, at the 2017
Le Guess Who? Le Guess Who? is a Dutch music festival featuring different music genres: from avant-garde, jazz, hip hop, electronic, experimental, noise rock, indie rock, world music and others. The festival, founded by Bob van Heur and Johan Gijsen, has ...
Festival in Holland. The piece was performed by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and included a new arrangement of Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo's "Tenebrae Responsories" for strings. One of Higgins' best-known solo works is ''Bachanalia'' (Telegraph Harp, 2015) a record of electronically processed classical guitar arrangements of
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
. Heralded as a "flawlessly-performed" "masterpiece", ''Bachanalia'' solidified Higgins' reputation as among the most innovative guitarists of his era. September 2017 saw the release of a collaborative recording called "EVRLY MVSIC", released on NNA Tapes. The record featured semi-improvised acoustic duets of Higgins on guitar and violinist Josh Modney of the International Contemporary Ensemble. Higgins played guitar and assisted in arrangement and production on No-Wave auteur Arto Lindsay's ''Cuidado Madame'', recorded in Brooklyn at Strange Weather Studios and released on Northern Spy in 2017. Higgins also played guitar for Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori during her
Pioneer Works Pioneer Works is a non-profit cultural center in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Red Hook, New York City. The center builds community through the arts and sciences to create an open and inspired world. It encourages radical thinking across disciplines by provi ...
residency. In 2018, Hatori released the resulting record, ''Sequence'', under the moniker Miss Information. Higgins' solo LP ''Dossier'' was released on
Nicolas Jaar Nicolas Jaar (; ; es, Nicolás; born January 10, 1990) is a Chilean-American composer and recording artist based in New York. Among his notable works are the albums ''Space Is Only Noise'' (2011), ''Sirens'' (2016), and '' Cenizas'' (2020). H ...
's label, Other People, in 2018. ''
Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'' magazine issued the work a 9/10, citing its "incredibly unique aesthetic", and ''Inverted Audio'' called ''Dossier'' "one of Higgins’ most accomplished works to date". Higgins' subsequent tour across Europe, Japan, and North America included a multimedia rendition of the work at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, featuring choreography by Monica Mirabile of Fluct and sculpture by light-based visual artist Matthew Schreiber. In 2020, Higgins released ''TOCSIN'', an album ''Pitchfork'' called "Higgins' most ambitious and wide-reaching collection of original compositions". The record followed a multimedia concert presented at Pioneer Works in 2016. Titled ''TOCSIN: Three New Works by Patrick Higgins'', the two-night event featured an immersive art installation developed by Higgins in collaboration with visual artist
Tauba Auerbach Tauba Auerbach (born 1981 in San Francisco, California) is a visual artist working in many disciplines including painting, artists' books, sculpture and weaving. They live and work in New York. Early life and education Auerbach grew up in San Fra ...
, architect Alexander Arroyo, and set designer/projectionist Ken Farmer; the premieres of Higgins' compositions were performed by Mivos Quartet, Wet Ink Ensemble, and a piano trio featuring Vicky Chow with cellists Mariel Roberts and Brian Snow. The resulting album, released on Telegraph Harp, features recordings of these pieces and personnel.


Producer

In the fall of 2013, Higgins founded Future-Past Studios in upstate New York. The studio is home to a renowned collection of analog recording equipment and housed in an historic Lutheran church from the 19th century. He has worked as a record producer, engineer, and studio owner, and since the studio's opening has recorded over 60 records, including work with Dither Quartet and
John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
, Vicky Chow of
Bang on a Can Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted contemporary classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Called "the cou ...
,
The Last Shadow Puppets The Last Shadow Puppets are an English supergroup consisting of Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Miles Kane (The Rascals, solo artist), James Ford (Simian, Simian Mobile Disco, music producer), and Zach Dawes (Mini Mansions). The band released th ...
( Arctic Monkeys), The National,
War On Drugs The war on drugs is a Globalization, global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of prohibition of drugs, drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the Unite ...
, Zs, Gang Gang Dance,
Amanda Palmer Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a ...
, Jherek Bischoff, Josephine Foster, Mivos Quartet,
TAK ensemble TAK ensemble is a contemporary chamber ensemble based in New York City consisting of flute, clarinet, violin, percussion, and soprano voice. History TAK ensemble was founded in 2013 and performed their first concert in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on Ma ...
,
Richard Reed Parry Richard Reed Parry (born October 4, 1977) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, best known as a core member of the Grammy Award-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire, where he plays a wide variety of instruments, often switching ...
of
Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...
, and numerous film scores.


Discography


Solo / Primary Artist


As band / ensemble member


Film scores


References


External links


Official sitePatrick Higgins on Discogs.comPatrick Higgins Artist Page on MTV.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Patrick 1984 births Living people Northern Spy Records artists American male classical composers Avant-garde composers 21st-century classical composers 21st-century American guitarists American male guitarists Avant-garde guitarists Guitarists from New York City People from Manhattan Classical musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American male musicians