Charlemagne Palestine is a musician unlike any other, with a signature style of long evolving drones and sustained notes, often involving installations of stuffed animals that envelop the performance space. He is frequently associated with minimalist composition, but his wildly eclectic oeuvre extends into film and art installations. His instruments include piano, church organ, church bells and synthesizers, and with these tools in hand, Palestine composes sounds that exhibit spectral effects when either pushed beyond their bounds, left alone, or both. Palestine’s “strumming” technique can be explained as repeating sounds, ultimately invoking affects that he calls “sonorities.”
