Utility - NEXUS DESTINY (2019)

Nexus Destiny is a collection of 60 arpeggios made entirely with software synthesisers. Utility have used only unaltered presets and expansion packs from the Nexus, Massive and Xpand! instruments commonly used in contemporary dance and trap production. Each arpeggio has undergone minimal editing and/or post-production, and is designed to highlight the spectral and timbral qualities of the preset from which it takes its title.

The collection exists simultaneously as a sequence of short etudes for listening, and as a library of materials for reuse by other composers, producers and DJs. In its dual function as composition and technical demonstration, Nexus Destiny occupies a musical uncanny valley in which human emotion is captured and stored for the purposes of automation and reproduction. Nexus Destiny is a digital still life that re-performs the 'preset' nature of 'in the box' authorship, while also celebrating the preternatural, hi-definition aesthetics immanent to commercial sound design tools.

Utility is the collaborative project of Austin Buckett and Thomas Smith. Austin Buckett is a composer and artist from Sydney who has presented work at MONA FOMA (the Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Melbourne Recital Centre; Sydney Festival; and has recently recorded new works by Alvin Lucier, and performed new work at Prentis Hall, Columbia University. Thomas Smith is a musician and artist from Melbourne who has presented work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Goldsmiths College, London; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and has recently performed at the Beijing Media Arts Biennale 2018.