Laura Steenberge (https://www.indexical.org/artists/laura-steenberge) is a composer and performer based in LA who has performed on a number of Indexical concerts, on instruments ranging from viola da gamba, to miscellaneous objects hanging from the rafters, to harmonica, to the clear plastic tubing pictured above. Her work often seems to engage with the physical limits of the material, and likewise takes conceptual inclinations to their (often absurd) logical ends.
In this podcast, Laura takes a walk through the woods with producer Madison Heying and Jon Myers. They discuss her work, alongside thoughts surrounding language, myth, and song. We'll hear a number of musical excerpts of Laura's work throughout the podcast:
Lampstands (for 2 voices and keyboard) (w/ Julia Holter singing)
Alleluia Caligula (solo voice and lap harp)
Victory Over the Sun (solo contrabass and voice)
The King and Queen (solo voice)
Earthworms (piano and voice)
Special thanks to Jake Foley for assistance editing this podcast.
From a May 2016 event in Santa Cruz
Laura Steenberge
Laura Steenberge is based in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. As a performer, she sings and plays viola da gamba, contrabass, piano, guitar and other things, in traditional and untraditional song styles. As a composer, she primarily writes vocal music. As a scholar she researches connections between music and language. Her current research is about the compositional practices of medieval composers of Byzantine chant, a study that has inspired a body of creative work about ritual and metaphors of the supernatural. She will be graduating from Stanford University in June 2016 with a DMA in music composition.