2016
GRIS
OGRAPHY
My works focus on layering of rhythms, textures and ideas. I'm interested in hybrid sound combinations and unusual intersections at the margins of music and sound making - the places where one discipline, genre, or resonance merges into another. These notions manifest themselves in musical structures (polyrhythm), altered or re-purposed sound sources (prepared piano), unexpected convergences of musical styles ("Sichuan jazz"), or experimental hybrids of improvised and notated music.
"Startlingly fresh imagery...intelligent, intuitive and original."
-The Courier Mail
"Here the piano his human voice; sings in chorus with Glass and Riley."
- Kindamusik
Erik Griswold is a composer and pianist working in contemporary classical, improvised, and experimental forms. Particular interests include prepared piano, percussion, environmental music, and music of Sichuan province. Originally from San Diego, and now residing in Brisbane, he composes for adventurous musicians, performs as a soloist and in Clocked Out, and collaborates with musicians, artists, dancers, and poets.
His music has been performed in Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Cafe Oto, Chengdu Arts Centre, Melbourne Festival, OzAsia Festival, and Brisbane Festival, among others. He is a recipient of an Australia Council Fellowship in Music, a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, and numerous individual grants. His 2018 album Water Pushes Sand, with the Australian Art Orchestra, was nominated for an Aria Award (Best Jazz Album). He has collaborated with musicians Steven Schick, Margaret Leng Tan, Lisa Moore, Ensemble Offspring, the Australian Art Orchestra, Decibel Ensemble, Zephyr String Quartet, and many others. His music can be heard on Cold Blue, Immediata, Room40, Innova, Sonoluminus, Mode Records, Tall Poppies, Move, and Clocked Out.
Together with Vanessa Tomlinson, Griswold directs Clocked Out, who create original music for prepared piano, percussion, found objects, and toys. Their albums include Time Crystals, Foreign Objects, Water Pushes Sand, and Every night the same dream. Clocked Out also produces innovative concert series, events and tours, for which they have received two APRA-AMCOS Art Music Awards (Excellence by an Organisation / 2011, and Excellence in Experimental Music / 2017) and two Green Room Awards (2000).